Aircraft Guides · 9 min read
Home / Aircraft Guides / PC-12 Charter
By Pat Sinnott, Founder of Peak Aviation Solutions. Commercial-rated pilot who answers the single-engine question the same way whether the asker is a client or a fellow aviator.
Last updated: August 10, 2026
Every pc-12 charter conversation I have eventually arrives at the same question, usually asked a little carefully: it only has one engine, is that okay? It is the right question to ask, it deserves a better answer than the brochure wave-off, and a pilot should be the one giving it.
So this guide leads with it, then covers what the airplane costs on a real booking and the places it goes that nothing else we charter can reach.
A PC-12 charter books through Peak Aviation Solutions on all-in trip quotes; published rates run around $2,100 per hour (Paramount Business Jets). On our books right now: Bozeman to Cheyenne and back, 3 hours 6 minutes of round-trip flying, $13,250 all-in. It seats six to nine with a flat floor and a cargo door.
The Pilatus PC-12 is a single-engine turboprop that carries six to nine passengers about 1,845 nautical miles at roughly 285 knots, with a 356-cubic-foot flat-floor cabin, an aft cargo door, and short-field performance that opens airports most jets cannot use (Paramount Business Jets).
In this guide:
- The single-engine question, answered honestly
- What a PC-12 charter costs, with a booked trip
- Where this airplane goes that others cannot
- When the PC-12 is the wrong answer
- FAQ
Is a single-engine turboprop safe to charter?
Let me answer as a pilot first and a broker second.
The engine question is reasonable, and the honest response is not “don’t worry about it.” It is that safety lives in standards, not engine count, and our standards do not move. Every PC-12 trip Peak books flies with a dual crew, two qualified pilots, even though the airplane is certified for one. Every operator and both of those pilots clear the same ARGUS and Wyvern vetting we require on a heavy jet, through the Total Flight Review, our pre-departure check of the operator, the specific airframe, and the crew, graded green, yellow, or red. Green flies. Red never does, and no price changes that.
The airplane holds up its end. The PC-12 has spent three decades becoming one of the most widely used turboprops in the world, flying for air ambulance services, government operators, and corporate flight departments, missions chosen by professionals whose entire job is weighing risk. That fleet did not accumulate by accident.
So my answer to the careful question is this: I put clients on the PC-12 under the same standards I would demand for my own family, and the education is part of the booking. Ask me anything about it on the call, because a client who understands the airplane enjoys it more.
How much does a PC-12 charter cost?
A real booking from our records, and a current one: Bozeman to Cheyenne and back, two legs, 3 hours 6 minutes of total flying, $13,250 all-in, sitting on our books for a late-August departure as I write this. Crew and fees in the number, nothing appearing later on an invoice.
Published rates for the PC-12 run around $2,100 per hour, light-jet territory divided roughly in half. On short regional legs that rate difference is the whole ballgame, and it is why the two-hour rule we lay out on the King Air page applies here in full: under about two hours of flight time, the turboprop usually wins the math outright.
As with every airplane we book: compare and contrast trip quotes, never hourly rates. Send me the routing and it comes back priced beside the alternatives.
Where the PC-12 goes that others cannot
Every airplane on this site has a superpower. The PC-12’s is doors, floors, and short fields.
Short-field ability, even by turboprop standards. The PC-12 uses runways that make twin turboprops cautious and exclude jets outright, which puts the small high-elevation airports that make Mountain West trips worth taking within direct reach, with a hard runway and an FBO waiting at the other end.
A cargo door that changes what counts as luggage. The aft cargo door swallows gear that defeats jet baggage holds: bikes, rafts, gun cases, a full family’s worth of ski equipment. Combined with a flat-floor cabin around 356 cubic feet, the airplane hauls like a truck and rides like an aircraft.
Six to nine seats with honest comfort. The cabin is a working space, seated-height rather than stand-up, and for the sub-two-hour legs it flies best, nobody has ever needed more.
If your destination’s airport has ever been called too small for a jet, this is the page you were looking for.
What a typical PC-12 mission looks like
The Cheyenne booking above is the airplane’s argument in one trip. A Bozeman-based company opened a new location in Cheyenne, and six of their people are flying down for the grand opening to stand with the new team on day one. On a leg that short the PC-12 gives up maybe five minutes each way against a light jet, and the savings are significant: six seats filled, a same-day round trip, at the most economical rate anything with wings could offer.
That is the shape of most PC-12 missions: a regional round trip, both legs comfortably under the two-hour crossover, priced as one all-in number, flown and home the same day.
Around Bozeman that pattern repeats across a familiar map. Kalispell, Jackson, Cody, Idaho Falls, Salt Lake, Denver’s satellite fields: legs of forty minutes to two hours, exactly the window where a turboprop’s economics are unbeatable and its speed penalty barely registers. Add the short-runway airports jets cannot serve and the airplane covers a version of the Mountain West most of the charter fleet simply cannot see.
One planning note from experience: summer heat at high-elevation airports affects every aircraft, and while the PC-12 handles density altitude well for its class, short high fields on hot afternoons deserve morning departures. That conversation happens before the quote, not after.
When the PC-12 is the wrong answer
Honesty being the house style, three cases where we point you elsewhere.
Long legs. At roughly 285 knots, a two-hour-plus mission starts favoring a light jet or larger, on time first and eventually on money. The two-hour rule works in both directions, and we quote it that way.
Big groups with big bags on paved fields. If nine seats are actually filling and the destination has a real runway, the King Air brings a second engine’s worth of climb performance and similar economics, and it is the more common turboprop answer in our book.
Weather-critical schedules into serious terrain. Any turboprop mission into high country answers to conditions, and there are days the right call is the bigger airport and a car. When that is the honest answer, you will hear it from us before you book, not after.
Common questions about chartering a PC-12
How much does a PC-12 charter cost per hour?
Published rates for the Pilatus PC-12 run around $2,100 per hour (Paramount Business Jets, 2026). Peak Aviation Solutions quotes all-in trip prices instead: a current booking on our records covers Bozeman to Cheyenne and back, 3 hours 6 minutes of round-trip flying, for $13,250 with crew and fees included. Short regional legs are where the economics shine.
Is the PC-12 safe with only one engine?
The question deserves a real answer: safety lives in operating standards, not engine count. Peak Aviation Solutions flies every PC-12 trip with two pilots despite single-pilot certification, and every operator and crew clears ARGUS and Wyvern vetting through the Total Flight Review before departure. The PC-12’s three decades of service with air ambulance, government, and corporate operators reflect the aircraft’s record under professional standards.
How many passengers does a PC-12 seat?
Six passengers in typical executive configuration, up to nine in higher-density layouts, always with two pilots on Peak Aviation Solutions trips. The flat-floor cabin offers about 356 cubic feet of space with seated-height comfort, and the aft cargo door accepts gear that jet baggage holds cannot, from bikes to full ski loads (Paramount Business Jets).
How far can a PC-12 fly?
About 1,845 nautical miles at roughly 285 knots (Paramount Business Jets), which is unusually long range for a turboprop and covers most of the western United States nonstop from Bozeman. In practice the airplane is at its best on legs under about two hours, where its operating economics beat any jet; past that, speed starts to matter more than rate.
Can a PC-12 land on grass or dirt strips?
The airplane famously can; Peak Aviation Solutions does not. Unpaved operations sit outside our safety parameters for every aircraft we book, so our PC-12 trips land at established airports with a hard runway, an FBO, and services on the field. What the airplane’s short-field ability buys our clients is the small paved airports jets cannot use, with support standing by if anything needs attention.
PC-12 or King Air: which turboprop should you charter?
The PC-12 wins on short-field access, cargo flexibility, and range; the King Air 200 brings twin-engine climb performance, up to nine seats, and deeper charter availability. Both fly under identical Peak Aviation Solutions standards: dual crew, ARGUS and Wyvern vetting, the Total Flight Review. For most paved-field regional missions either works, and the quote should show both.
The airplane for the places worth getting to
Nobody dreams about the flight to the mountain town. They dream about the town, and the PC-12 is how the dream skips the long drive after landing at the big airport an hour away. One engine, two pilots, one standard, and a set of small paved airports no other page on this site can offer.
It is also the final aircraft in our guides for a reason. Every other airplane we have written about competes on speed, cabin, or range. This one competes on where the wheels can touch down, and for a certain kind of trip that argument ends the conversation.
Get a PC-12 charter quote from someone who has done the runway math
Tell me where you are actually headed, especially if the local airport has ever been called too small for a jet. I will confirm what the field allows, run the operator and both pilots through the Total Flight Review, and price the King Air and a light jet beside it so the whole picture is on one page.
Call or text (406) 296-3256, email charter@flypeak.com, or send the trip. Per-trip pricing, no membership, and a pilot’s answer to the engine question any time you want it.
Related guides
Related services
- Turboprop charter: the category page
- Request a charter quote
- Empty leg alerts: free, pay only when you fly
Peak Aviation Solutions, Private Jet Charter Broker
Founded by a pilot in Bozeman, Montana, arranging charter flights across the US and Canada. We arrange. You fly.
Founder: Pat Sinnott, commercial-rated pilot with 21 years in private aviation and an NBAA membership.
Services: every charter category, turboprop through heavy jet, with short-field Mountain West missions a specialty. Empty leg alerts free, pricing per trip, third-party vetting on every flight.
Coverage: about 5,000 aircraft reachable worldwide; roughly 80 percent of Peak’s flying happens outside Montana.
Contact: charter@flypeak.com · (406) 296-3256 · flypeak.com
Send the Trip. Get Real Options.
Real aircraft near your departure, all-in pricing, and the Total Flight Review on every option. Pay per trip, no membership.
