The fastest turboprops, ranked by cruise speed
Where turboprop speed closes on the light jets
Reading the board
- Cruise speed (KTAS) sets the order, sourced rather than optimistic.
- Twins lead, singles follow. The fastest single-engine turboprops rank just below the cabin-class twins; the single-engine turboprop board cuts to those alone.
- Power and airframe set the pace, not engine size. The Avanti is the proof.
The turboprop is the airplane buyers reach for when a piston runs out of speed and altitude but a jet runs past the budget. This board ranks the five fastest in our catalog by one sourced figure, published cruise speed in KTAS, fastest first.
Turboprops sit in the useful middle of aviation, faster and higher than pistons and cheaper to run than jets. The quickest close much of the gap to a light jet while keeping short-field manners and burning less fuel than the jets they shadow.
The Piaggio Avanti tops the board at 402 knots, a speed no other turboprop design reaches, earned on its three-surface pusher layout rather than raw power. Below it the field is wide, from cabin-class twins in the 350s to owner-flown singles near 330. That range is the point: “turboprop” covers a 270-knot single and a 400-knot twin under one word.
Our picks
Select up to 5 to compare side by side, or open any aircraft for full specs.Tick 2 or more above to compare them side by side. selected (max)
One word, three airplanes
The board ranks turboprops, and the five it returns barely belong to the same idea. The Piaggio Avanti at the top is an eleven-seat twin whose three-surface pusher layout reaches 402 knots on shape rather than power; the Epic E1000 at the bottom is a six-seat single an owner flies from the left seat, at 333 knots; and between them sits the Dornier 328, a 33-seat regional airliner. “Turboprop” is the only label all three share.
The Avanti’s lead is the part worth pausing on. It cruises fifty-one knots clear of the next airplane, the Piper Cheyenne 400, on the aerodynamics of a layout no one else builds. The rest of the board is the more ordinary truth of the class: cabin-class twins and owner-flown singles separated by a handful of knots, where cabin, runway, and operating cost decide more than cruise.
Where the speed goes next
The turbines own this board. To narrow or widen it:
- The fastest single-engine turboprops cut to the owner-flown singles, one pilot and one PT6.
- The fastest propeller planes let the pistons in, and the turbines keep the entire top regardless.
- The fastest piston aircraft drop to reciprocating power, a clear class below the slowest turbine here.
Or measure the spread yourself: compare the Piaggio Avanti and the Epic E1000, the fastest twin against the fastest single on this board.