Nextant Aerospace will unveil a quieter, roomier and more efficient model of the seven-seat Nextant 400XT twinjet less than two years after it was first certificated.

The 400XTi will be offered to customers with a list price of $4.95 million, or roughly 50% of a new-build aircraft in the same class. Nextant Aerospace says the $4.95 million is the same price as a baseline 400XT, although the company listed the price of the remanufactured and re-engined Beechcraft 400 as $4.3 million including all options only a year ago.

For passengers, the most noticeable difference offered by the new model is a cabin noise reduction of 9dB, lowering volume by nearly 12% to about 67dB. Nextant Aerospace achieved the reduction by surveying the cabin's noise signature and installing sound-dampening materials.

"This airplane is very quiet," Jay Heublein, vice-president of sales and marketing for Nextant Aerospace, told Flightglobal in April.

Passengers will also notice more room inside the cabin. Nextant Aerospace has installed a new composite shell interior that adds 8cm (3in) of space at shoulder level and 7cm to the height.

The interior revamp also extends into the cockpit. Nextant Aerospace replaced the last remaining row of push buttons illuminated by incandescent lamps with more efficient LED lights. The 400XTi will also include automatic throttles to reduce pilot workload.

The Cleveland-based Nextant Aerospace introduced the 400XT in October 2011. It reuses the airframe of the original Hawker 400/Beechjet/Mitsubishi Diamond, but replaces all life-limited parts, installs the Rockwell Collins Pro Line 21 avionics suite and adds 3,050lb-thrust (13.6kN) Williams FJ44-3AP turbofan engines.

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Source: Flight Daily News

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