Beechcraft King Air Tops Ranking of 11 Most-Built Turboprops, With More Than 7,900 Delivered
Why It MattersTurboprop production leadership rests on long-running, continuously updated families, while models whose lines were suspended or ended before this century fall out of the count regardless of how many were built.
What happened
An AeroCorner ranking published as of October 2026 names the Beechcraft King Air the most important turboprop flying today by units built. Textron Aviation counts more than 7,900 King Airs delivered since 1964, over twice the total of any other turboprop on the list. The ranking applies two tests: at least 1,000 units built, and production at some point this century. Counts come from manufacturers where possible and carry different dates, so close rows could swap.
The King Air's first prototype flew on January 24, 1964, and the fleet passed 64 million flight hours by 2024. The current flagship, the King Air 360, cruises at up to 312 knots with a maximum range of 1,806 nautical miles. The Cessna Caravan is next: it first flew on December 9, 1982, and Textron delivered the 3,000th in January 2023, a Grand Caravan EX for Brazil's Azul Conecta. The Grand Caravan EX has one 867-horsepower PT6A-140 engine and cruises at 185 knots.
The Lockheed C-130 Hercules first flew on August 23, 1954, and more than 2,700 had been built by June 2024. Guinness World Records lists it as the longest production run of any military aircraft. The C-130J Super Hercules is the only version still in production, with 500 delivered to 26 operators in 22 countries by March 2022.
The Pilatus PC-12 first flew on May 31, 1991. The 2,000th went to fractional operator PlaneSense in May 2023, and the fleet passed 10 million flight hours that month. The current PC-12 PRO cruises at up to 290 knots, reaches 1,765 nautical miles and seats up to nine passengers.
The ATR 42 and 72 are the first true airliner on the list, with more than 1,700 delivered by August 2024. The ATR 72-600 seats up to 78 passengers. ATR delivered 32 aircraft in 2025 against a backlog of more than 160, citing supply chain disruption.
The rest of the list
The Daher TBM had 1,294 delivered by December 31, 2025, including 51 TBM 960s that year. The TBM 960 cruises at 330 knots. The Dash 8 had 1,258 built by March 2019, and production has been suspended since 2022; De Havilland Canada plans a restart in a new Alberta plant by 2033 at the latest. The Let L-410 Turbolet exceeded 1,200 built by 2016.
The Beechcraft T-6 Texan II, Air Tractor AT-802 and De Havilland Canada Twin Otter each stand at 1,000 or more. The T-6's 1,000th went to the Colombian Air Force in October 2022. The AT-802's 1,000th was delivered to a Brazilian agribusiness customer in January 2023. The Twin Otter's 1,000th was delivered in March 2026, split between 844 from the original run that ended in 1988 and 156 from the revived line.
Several well-known turboprops miss the list because production ended before this century, including the Tupolev Tu-95 (production ended 1993), the Antonov An-26 (1986) and An-12 (1973).
Industry impact & what to watch
The list shows how cumulative production totals accrue in this segment. The leaders are families built over decades and refreshed rather than replaced: the King Air since 1964, the Caravan since 1982, the PC-12 since 1991. Long production runs, not a single strong sales year, put a type at the top, and a model with a short or interrupted run cannot catch up on volume alone.
The cut-off tests also shape what the ranking says. A type counts only if it was built at some point this century, which is why the Dash 8, with production suspended since 2022, remains eligible, while the Tu-95, An-26 and An-12 are excluded. The Twin Otter case shows the same dynamic: its 1,000th delivery in March 2026 combined 844 aircraft from the original run with 156 from the revived line, so a restart can bring a dormant type back to a round-number milestone.
The most concrete pending item is the Dash 8 restart, which De Havilland Canada plans in a new Alberta plant by 2033 at the latest. On the airliner side, ATR's 2025 deliveries of 32 aircraft against a backlog of more than 160 will be the figure to track as supply chain disruption eases or persists.
