Pilatus PC-24

Three measurements in this category belong to the PC-24 alone: 276 in of cabin, 67 in of width, and nine bags in the hold. No other light jet we charter matches any of them. The nearest cabin is the Learjet 45's 237 in, and the nearest width is the 66 in the two Citation XLS models and the Premier IA share. What that produces is a light jet that does not feel like one from the inside — eight seats in a cabin sized closer to what the category above offers, with 90 cu ft of baggage behind them. Pilatus still builds the type.

Range is 2,000 nm and top speed 440 kt, and takeoff is 3,090 ft — the second shortest in this class, behind the Citation CJ1's 3,080 ft. That combination is the aircraft's actual argument: a cabin at the top of the category from a runway near the bottom of it. Charterers reach for the PC-24 when the party is eight, the luggage is real, and the destination airfield is one the Learjet 45 needs 5,040 ft to leave against this aircraft's 3,090. Within our light fleet nothing else offers that pairing, and the aircraft is specified by name rather than by category as a result.

A cabin above its class