Aircraft

Phenom 300 vs King Air 350: Jet vs Turboprop Guide

Phenom 300 vs King Air 350 on speed and cost

Choose the Phenom 300 if your typical trip is longer than 700 nautical miles or you want to climb above the weather. If most of your flights are under 500 nautical miles and hourly cost is the deciding factor, choose the King Air 350. This question comes up often in our guides when buyers compare a light jet and a turboprop for the same regional route.

These aircraft aren’t simply two versions of the same class. The Embraer Phenom 300 is a twin-engine light jet with two turbofan engines, certified for single-pilot operation. The Beechcraft King Air 350, made by Textron Aviation, is a twin-engine turboprop powered by two propeller-driven engines. That fundamental difference affects cruise altitude, speed, noise, runway requirements, and price.

So, comparing the Phenom 300 with the King Air 350 is less about working through a spec sheet and more about choosing between a jet and a turboprop. The right aircraft depends on how far you usually fly and how much the hourly rate matters to your budget, not which one feels more like a “real” private jet.

Phenom 300 vs King Air 350 at a Glance

Neither manufacturer publishes charter pricing. Both hourly-rate ranges above come from broker rate cards, not from Embraer or Textron Aviation, and actual quotes move with the operator, the season, and the specific aircraft.

Jet vs Turboprop: What the Engines Change

A turbofan and a turboprop both use a turbine engine, but they deliver thrust in different ways. The Phenom 300’s PW535E1 engines push exhaust straight out the back. The King Air 350’s PT6A-60A engines turn a propeller instead, which is why it cannot match a jet’s altitude or speed.

Altitude is the clearest result of that difference. The Phenom 300 climbs to 45,000 feet, above almost all airline traffic and most weather systems. The King Air 350 tops out at 35,000 feet, low enough that summer afternoon storms and airline traffic both stay in its flight path.

Cruising above weather changes what a flight actually feels like. A Phenom leg on a bumpy August afternoon is often smooth, because the aircraft is flying over the turbulence rather than through it. The King Air 350 flies through more of that same weather, and that difference shows up as a rougher ride on exactly the kind of thunderstorm-season trips where it matters most.

Noise follows the same logic in reverse for some passengers. A propeller produces a lower, more constant drone than a jet engine, which some flyers find easier to tune out on a short hop, even though jet cabins are generally quieter overall at cruise.

Phenom 300 vs King Air 350: Range and Speed

The Phenom 300E flies 2,010 nautical miles with National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) IFR reserves and five occupants, cruising at up to 464 knots. The King Air 350 flies 1,806 nautical miles at a maximum cruise speed of 312 knots true airspeed. On range the two aircraft are close. On speed they are not, and a 150-knot gap compounds with every mile flown.

That gap plays out differently depending on distance. Three bands are worth knowing before you pick either aircraft:

• Under 500 nm. The King Air is competitive on total trip time once boarding and taxi are counted, and it is clearly cheaper.
• 500 to 900 nm. The Phenom saves 30 to 60 minutes in the air. Whether that time is worth the extra cost is a real decision, not an obvious one.
• Over 1,000 nm. The Phenom wins decisively on both time and comfort, and the King Air’s price advantage shrinks as the trip gets longer.

On a 1,200-nautical-mile leg, the King Air needs about 4.3 hours against roughly 3 hours for the Phenom. That 78-minute gap is the point where most buyers stop considering the turboprop at all, because 78 minutes in a cabin you cannot stand up in is a real cost even before the money is counted.

The extended-range 350ER and 360ER variants of the King Air reach roughly 2,700 nm, but they trade cabin space and speed for fuel and are built for medevac and special-mission work, not typical charter or ownership use.

Cabin and Comfort

Neither cabin lets a passenger stand up, and that single fact matters more than either aircraft’s marketing suggests. The Phenom 300 cabin is 4 feet 11 inches tall and certified for up to 10 occupants, with most charter operators configuring six or seven seats. The King Air 350 cabin is 4 feet 9 inches tall, 4 feet 6 inches wide, and 19 feet 6 inches long, with charter configurations usually running eight or nine seats in a double-club layout.

The two-inch cabin-height gap sounds trivial and is not, because it compounds with cruise altitude. The Phenom’s 6,600-foot maximum cabin altitude at 45,000 feet keeps pressurization gentler on the body across a longer flight. The King Air flies lower, which keeps its own cabin altitude low too, but it spends more time inside the weather that causes the fatigue pressurization is meant to reduce.

Both aircraft carry an enclosed or belted lavatory, and both have a baggage compartment large enough for a real weekend trip. Neither has a flight attendant, so a full cabin on a three-hour-plus leg wears on passengers in either aircraft, jet or turboprop.

Runway and Airfield Requirements

The King Air 350’s reputation for short runways does not hold up against the Phenom 300 the way it does against a midsize jet. The King Air needs 3,300 feet of paved runway at max weight. The Phenom 300E needs 3,209 feet, which is shorter. On paved runway length alone, the modern light jet is not the constrained aircraft in this pairing.

The King Air’s real field advantage is narrower than the generic “turboprops need less runway” claim suggests. Three situations still favor it:

1. Unimproved surfaces. The King Air routinely operates from gravel, grass, and dirt strips because its engines sit high on the wing. The Phenom’s lower turbofan intakes can ingest debris on the same surfaces, so it generally cannot follow.
2. Hot-and-high airports. Turboprop performance degrades more gracefully with heat and altitude than a light jet’s does, which matters at mountain airports in summer.
3. Fields with no jet service. Some small airports carry fuel, approach, or insurance restrictions that rule out jets entirely, regardless of runway length.

If your destination is a paved 4,000-foot runway, the runway is not the reason to book a King Air 350 over a Phenom 300. The hourly rate is.

What Each Aircraft Costs to Fly

Embraer does not publish a Phenom 300E list price, and market reporting puts a new one at roughly $11 million to $12 million. Textron Aviation does not publish King Air pricing either, and recent trade reporting puts a new King Air 360, the current production version, near $9 million. Both figures are estimates, not manufacturer quotes.

Charter rates follow the same gap. Broker rate cards for the Phenom 300 run roughly $3,200 to $4,000 per flight hour. King Air 350 charter rates run roughly $2,000 to $2,500 per hour, about 35 to 45 percent lower.

Here is where the raw hourly gap misleads a buyer who has not run the arithmetic. Take a 650-nautical-mile leg, roughly Teterboro, New Jersey to Charleston, South Carolina. At a realistic block speed of 400 knots for the Phenom and 280 knots for the King Air, the Phenom flies the leg in about 1 hour 37 minutes and the King Air in about 2 hours 19 minutes.

Almost every charter operator bills a two-hour daily minimumThe minimum number of flight hours an operator bills per day regardless of how long you actually fly. Commonly two hours, which makes short hops expensive per mile.. The King Air’s actual flight time clears that minimum, so it bills its real 2.32 hours: 2.32 times $2,300 comes to about $5,340. The Phenom’s flight time does not clear the minimum, so it bills the full 2 hours regardless of the shorter time in the air: 2 times $3,700 comes to $7,400.

The gap between the two aircraft on this leg is about $2,060, wider than the raw per-hour difference implies, because the minimum strips away the Phenom’s only real advantage on a trip this short: speed you are not billed for. Split four ways, that is roughly $1,335 per person on the King Air against $1,850 on the Phenom, for a flight that lands only 42 minutes earlier.

Push the same comparison to 1,200 nm and the result flips. Both aircraft clear the two-hour minimum easily, the King Air’s cost climbs with its extra 78 minutes in the air, and the price gap narrows while the time cost keeps growing. Past roughly 800 nm, the King Air’s price advantage stops covering the time it costs most passengers.

Who Should Buy the Phenom 300 vs the King Air 350

Buy the Phenom 300 if your typical leg runs past 700 nautical miles, if you fly through weather often enough that a smoother, higher ride matters, or if you want the fastest single-pilot light jet in production. Its weakness is cost on short legs, where its speed advantage gets erased by the same daily minimum that helps it look competitive on paper.

Buy the King Air 350 if most of your legs run under 500 nautical miles, if you need to land on gravel, grass, or a short strip a jet cannot use, or if per-hour cost is the number that decides the booking. Its weakness is comfort and time past about 800 nautical miles, where the speed gap turns into more than an hour on the ground you did not plan for.

Regional shuttle operators, air ambulance programs, and buyers who fly the same short route on a fixed schedule are the segments that pick the King Air 350 outright. First-time charter buyers comparing a light jet against “something cheaper” are usually better served running both quotes for their actual route before assuming the turboprop wins.

Who This Comparison Is Not For

This comparison is not for buyers planning international legs beyond about 1,800 nautical miles, or routine trips carrying eight or more passengers with full baggage past 500 nm. Both aircraft top out under 2,100 nm loaded lightly and both lose real capacity once the cabin and the bags are both full. A super-midsize jet such as the Challenger 350 or a heavy jet fits that mission better than either the Phenom 300 or the King Air 350.

It is also not the right comparison for a buyer who has already decided they need to land on an unpaved strip on most trips. At that point the King Air 350 is the only option between the two, and the Phenom 300’s speed and altitude advantages do not apply because it cannot make the trip at all.

What Would Change This Verdict

The verdict shifts with two variables: typical leg length and how often you need an airstrip a jet cannot use. If your annual flying is mostly legs under 500 nm with no need for unpaved fields, the King Air’s price edge holds and there is little reason to pay more for the Phenom’s speed you rarely use.

If your typical leg regularly crosses 800 nm, or a growing share of your trips need weather routing above 30,000 feet, the calculation flips toward the Phenom even on routes where the King Air currently looks cheaper. And if Embraer’s newer Phenom 300EV, which raises published range to 2,055 nm and adds roughly 430 pounds of payload, reaches your operator before you buy, it strengthens the jet’s case further on longer legs. Deliveries of that variant are not expected until 2028, so it does not change today’s decision.

How to Book a Phenom 300 or a King Air 350

Charter through a broker is the simplest way to try either aircraft before committing to anything larger. A jet card locks in guaranteed access and a fixed rate, and the Phenom 300 is the entry-level aircraft in most jet card programs, which makes it the more common jet card choice of the two. King Air 350 availability on jet cards is thinner, since most programs built around it serve regional or special-mission contracts rather than retail members.

If you are new to chartering either type, start with our guide to chartering a private jet and our types of private jets breakdown, which places both aircraft against the rest of the fleet classes. Run your own route through the private jet cost per hour numbers before assuming either aircraft is the cheaper choice, because the daily minimum changes the answer more often than the sticker rate does.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is the King Air 350 a jet or a turboprop?

The King Air 350 is a turboprop, not a jet. It is powered by two Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-60A engines that turn propellers, while the Phenom 300 uses turbofan engines with no propeller. That distinction is why the King Air cruises lower and slower than the Phenom, and it is the single most common point of confusion in this comparison.

Is the Phenom 300 better than the King Air 350?

The Phenom 300 is better than the King Air 350 on any leg past about 700 nautical miles, on speed, on cruise altitude, and on ride quality above weather. The King Air 350 is better on cost per hour, on short legs under 500 nm, and on runway flexibility at unpaved or restricted airfields. Neither aircraft is better across every criterion.

Is the King Air 350 better than the Phenom 300?

The King Air 350 is better than the Phenom 300 for short regional legs under 500 nautical miles, where its lower hourly rate is not eaten up by a daily minimum, and for airports with unpaved or restricted runways a jet cannot use. Past about 800 nm, the Phenom's speed and altitude advantages generally outweigh the King Air's lower price.

How much cheaper is the King Air 350 than the Phenom 300 to charter?

Broker rate cards put the King Air 350 at roughly $2,000 to $2,500 per flight hour against $3,200 to $4,000 for the Phenom 300, a gap of 35 to 45 percent. On an actual trip the gap moves with distance: it is largest on short legs that fall under a two-hour daily minimum for both aircraft, and it shrinks on longer legs where the King Air's extra flight time adds up.

Which needs a shorter runway, the Phenom 300 or the King Air 350?

The Phenom 300E needs a shorter paved runway, at 3,209 feet against 3,300 feet for the King Air 350. The King Air's real runway advantage is not pavement length but surface type: it can operate from gravel, grass, and dirt strips that a jet's low-mounted engines cannot safely use.

Run your own route through both aircraft’s numbers above before booking, since the crossover point between them sits around 700 to 800 nautical miles for most buyers. If your next trip falls close to that line, price both a Phenom 300 charter and a King Air 350 charter for the same dates and let the daily-minimum math above decide it.

We update this guide as aircraft, program, and route pricing changes. Spotted something out of date? Tell us and we'll check it.