Ikarus Aviation has added a King Air 260 to its fleet, which it will operate in conjunction with ProAir. Ikarus CEO René Strothmann has been in business aviation for more than 25 years, mostly operating business jets such as the CJ1 to CJ4, Phenoms and PC-12. This King Air 260 is the first of two joining the fleet. “We invest in these aircraft, which are then put on the ProAir AOC. My decision to invest in the King Air was very much personal having taken a look at the market. We have a lot of smaller business jets that serve a certain kind of clientele that is mostly already aware of business aviation, where it is a tradition to book business aviation planes,” explains Strothmann.

“There is a large group of western European companies, especially in Germany, who are not in the main cities like Berlin, Frankfurt and Munich. These require a certain amount of mobility yet have no access to business aviation and are struggling with highways and trains and regular aviation carriers. These companies have a certain barrier to booking business jets. We are talking about midsize companies with 500-1,000 employees and EUR300-500 million turnover that need an extra amount of mobility that can only be provided through business aviation.

“I personally connect very well with the King Air, thinking right back to the 70s and 80s. I have a certain expectation of how these aircraft look on the inside. I had the opportunity to see the new 260 two years ago. The new cabin in the King Air is excellent and compares well with your standard business jet. It really provides a lot of flexibility – you can go to shorter airfields and there’s no issue with weather conditions whatsoever,” Strothmann continues. “The minimum requirement for most of these customers is that they want to have two engines, two pilots and enough space and payload. The King Air fulfilled all that with the approach of a new cabin and it really matches with the target audience.”

He received the aircraft in August and it has been operating since mid September. It operates around central Germany and flies a maximum of three hours to northern Italy, Spain, Sweden, Denmark and so on.

Strothmann can operate the King Air at considerably less than a comparable jet, and access shorter airfields that are much closer to the final destination, which he says is a game-changer for people booking.

Textron VP of sales Duncan Van de Velde adds his thoughts: “What I see in Europe is more and more new entrants to business aviation. It started with COVID where people were introduced to the concept, and it’s finding continued success. The King Air in particular is one of the most popular turboprops in the world. It is spacious and comfortable and has everything you would expect. The airlines reach 30,000 city pairs but we can reach 100,000, which allows for full flexibility and efficiency. It’s a proven concept with all the latest technology such as autothrottle and pressurisation. It is a very easy aircraft to fly. You can save money and be home in time for dinner or for the weekend. I see people flying in larger aircraft such as the Falcon 8X from London to Berlin who are making the switch to the King Air from a fuel burn perspective. The turboprop is lower on cost and people are switching to it, which is a great development.”