Two engines, four decades of refinement, and the most trusted nameplate in turboprop aviation. The 350 is the boardroom of the prop world: square-oval cabin, real baggage space, known ice manners.
The Numbers That Matter
| Spec | Approximate Figure |
|---|---|
| Class | Turboprop |
| Typical charter seating | 7 to 9 passengers |
| Range | about 1,800 nm |
| Cruise speed | about 310 knots |
| Cabin (length by width by height) | about 19.5 by 4.5 by 4.8 ft |
| Baggage | about 55 cu ft |
| Lavatory | Yes, belted aft lav |
Figures are approximate manufacturer-class numbers for planning; individual aircraft vary by configuration, and your quote reflects the actual tail assigned.
Cabin, Seating, and the Bathroom Question
Four decades of refinement show in small ways: fold-out worktables, cabinetry that latches like furniture, and props that Beechcraft engineered to hum rather than drone.
- Standard: double-club seating for eight plus the belted lav seat
- High-density: up to eleven seats on commuter-configured tails
- The square-oval cross section keeps shoulders and heads off the sidewalls
The 350 carries a belted lavatory seat at the rear of the cabin behind a solid partition on most tails. It is a real, usable lav, though not the enclosed room a midsize jet gives you.
Living with a turboprop cabin is its own pleasure once expectations are set right: the seats are genuinely comfortable, the windows are big, and the sound is a steady hum rather than a jet hiss, louder at the front, calmer aft. Cruise happens in the twenties rather than the forties, which means you see the terrain you cross, and on mountain legs that view is half the ticket. Dress for the ramp, not the cabin; the cabin is warm.
Baggage and What Fits
About 55 cubic feet of baggage rides in the aft compartment, and ski tubes, gear duffels, and golf bags for the full cabin are routine. Long boards travel best padded down the aisle.
Models and Variants
Charter listings rarely say which generation you are getting unless you ask. The family tree, so the name on your quote means something:
| Variant | What changed |
|---|---|
| King Air 350 | the 1990 stretch of the 300 that defined the class |
| King Air 350i | 2009 onward, with a much quieter cabin and refreshed interior |
| King Air 350ER | extended-range and special-mission version |
| King Air 360 | the 2020 update: autothrottle, lower cabin altitude, new cockpit |
The Trips It Was Built For
Match the airframe to the mission and the quote gets better. This one earns its keep on: Ski & Mountain Trips Business & Executive Medical & Compassionate Groups & Events
Flying It Out of Denver
Front Range operators lean on the 350 for exactly what Colorado asks: high, short, weather-variable strips with a full cabin. It is the twin-engine answer when the mission or the passengers prefer two of everything.
Balanced field length is around 3,300 feet, and known-ice certification plus two engines make it the confidence pick when mountain weather is doing mountain things.
From Centennial, published range comfortably covers Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, Miami.
The weekly reality of this class at Centennial is mountain strips and short regional hops: Telluride mornings, Steamboat weekends, ranch strips no jet will ever see, and the hauling missions where seats come out and gear goes in. When afternoon weather builds over the divide, turboprop crews thread it visually at altitudes jets skip past; it is a different, closer kind of flying, and for Colorado missions it is often flatly the right tool.
How Chartering One Works
Getting one under you takes one form and honesty about the mission. We source from operators flying this class in and out of KAPA, check repositioning inventory before quoting fresh metal, and return a single itemized figure naming the exact aircraft and vintage. Questions get answered by people who know the airplane, not a script. The quote is free and carries no obligation at all.
The Operator Behind the Tail
Behind every quote sits an operator we can name: a Part 135 certificate holder with trained crews, tracked maintenance, and real insurance, flying this class routinely rather than occasionally. Charter brokers love vagueness on this point; we prefer the opposite. Ask who is flying you and the answer arrives with the quote, not after the deposit.
When to Book
Book when the dates are real, and sooner when the calendar is loud: ski Fridays, playoff weekends, the winter holidays. This class has depth at Centennial on normal weeks, so ordinary trips quote well on short notice, but peak-day demand is citywide and the best tails go first. If your dates float even a day, say so; flexibility outperforms earliness for price more often than not.
What It Costs to Charter
Turboprops are the value tier of charter: expect the lowest hourly rates on the board, with the trade being speed rather than comfort. Rates move with dates, positioning, and the specific aircraft, which is why we quote trips rather than publish a rate card that would be wrong by Friday. The form below returns a real number, free.