A Piper Meridian photographed in October 2006. · Cory W. Watts from Madison, Wisconsin, United States of America · CC BY-SA 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0) · resized
Piper · Turboprop
Meridian (PA-46-500TP)
Piper's first factory turboprop PA-46, sold as the Meridian from 2000 to 2015 before becoming the M500.
The Meridian brings turbine reliability and 260-knot cruise to the Malibu cabin, with asking prices from about $0.8M to $1.95M. It suits one to three people on trips under about 500 nm; with every seat filled, range shrinks fast.
Buy it if
You fly yourself or with one hired pilot, usually carry one to three people, and want a pressurized turbine single with a large, active used market and newer airframes than early TBMs for similar money.
Skip it if
You regularly fly four adults with bags beyond about 400 nm, need a toilet or a cabin you can stand in, or want 300-knot speed. A TBM or Pilatus PC-12 carries more, and Piper's later M600 flies farther.
Biggest compromise
Payload versus fuel. With full tanks, a typically equipped Meridian carries only about 331 lb of people and bags after a 200 lb pilot.
The numbers that matter
Purchase price
$1.28M
typical asking · $789K–$1.95M
What it costs per year
$418K
at 300 hrs · one professional pilot
How far it flies
1,000 nm
About 380 nm with four 200 lb adults and full reserves; about 520 nm with a 45-minute reserve with passengers
How fast
260 kt
high-speed cruise
Seats
4
4 typical; 5 using the right seat
Pilots needed
1
Certified for one pilot and mostly owner-flown; insurers expect type-specific training.
Price
What one costs to buy
Typical asking price
$1,285,000
Where asking prices sit
Low
$789K
Typical
$1.28M
High
$1.95M
Most asking prices fall inside this band.
Other sites
9.1% of the fleet
Priced vs call
with a price / call for price
26 of 36 listings show prices we can compare, from $789,000 for a 2001 to $1.95M for a 2015; higher Brazilian asks are left out.
Price vs its family and alternatives
Scroll to explore · select a jet for details
Meridian (PA-46-500TP) · This aircraft
$1.28M
The least expensive here; next up is the M500 (PA-46-500TP).
For sale now
None listed right now
Cost to own
What it costs per year to run
300hours / year
Per year
Per flight hour
Estimate — your operator will quote actual numbers.
Fuel, maintenance and engine overhaul reserve rise as you fly more. One professional pilot, recurrent training, hangar, insurance and subscriptions and databases stay the same however much you fly.
Where the money goes
Partial estimate- One professional pilot$120,25029%
- Recurrent training$3,7851%
- Hangar$20,9005%
- Insurance$18,2504%
- Subscriptions and databases$1,6960%
- Fuel$110,68826%
- Maintenance$84,60020%
- Engine overhaul reserve$58,24214%
One professional pilot is the biggest single cost at 29% of the total.
The JetGrade
63 out of 100 — Below its class average
Peer group: Daher / Socata TBM 700A, Daher / Socata TBM 700B, Piper / JetPROP PA-46 JetPROP DLX, Pilatus PC-12/45
Seven categories at a glance
- - - 70 = typical— This aircraft
Strongest on airport access, weakest on range & payload.
Grades are editorial opinions about the model, not any specific aircraft. Sponsors and affiliates have no input. Reviewed 2026-10-02.
Where it flies
Sample trips and reach
Typical trips on a map
Nonstop
Fuel stop likely
Out of reach
1 of 6 sample trips are comfortable nonstops.
Sample flight times
- 1.2 hr
Carlsbad → Las Vegas
205 nm · Short hop, well within range
- 3.3 hr
Carlsbad → Aspen
625 nm · Nonstop with two aboard; mountain airport
- 4.1 hr
Santa Ana → San José del Cabo
765 nm · One stop with four aboard; nonstop with two
- 4.9 hr
Teterboro → West Palm Beach
900 nm · Two stops with four aboard; one with three
Dallas → Teterboro
1,190 nm · Three stops with four aboard; one with two
Carlsbad → Teterboro
2,100 nm · Impractical with four aboard; two stops with two
Lineage
What came before and after
1984–1988
PA-46-310P Malibu
The original pressurized piston PA-46 six-seater.
1989 onward
PA-46-350P Malibu Mirage
Piston PA-46 with a new engine; the Meridian's starting point.
2000–2015
Meridian (PA-46-500TP)
Turbine PA-46: 500 shp PT6A, larger wing and tail, about 260 knots.
What changed from the PA-46-350P Malibu Mirage
- A 500 shp Pratt & Whitney PT6A-42A turbine replaced the Mirage's piston engine.
- A four-blade Hartzell propeller that can reverse pitch to slow the airplane after landing.
- Forward fuselage redesigned and about 8 in longer to carry the turbine.
- A larger wing, unique to the Meridian, carries the heavier weight and more fuel.
- Maximum takeoff weight rose to 5,092 lb from mid-2003 with vortex generators.
Size and cabin
How big it is, inside and out
Outside
Silhouette · scaled to length
Length
Wingspan
Height
Inside the cabin
Cabin length
Width
Height
Compare
How it stacks up
This aircraft
Meridian (PA-46-500TP)
- JetGrade
- 63
- Price
- $1.28M
- Cost per year
- $418K
- Range
- 1,000 nm
- Speed
- 260 kt
- Seats
- 4
- Cabin length
- 12′ 3″
- Pilots
- 1
- Years built
- 2000–2015
← Before
PA-46-350P Malibu Mirage
Not yet graded
After →
- JetGrade
- 64
- Price
- $1.85M–$2.4M guide
- Cost per year
- $434K
- Range
- 1,000 nm
- Speed
- 260 kt
- Seats
- 4
- Cabin length
- 12′ 3″
- Pilots
- 1
- Years built
- 2015–now
Alternative
- JetGrade
- 67
- Cost per year
- $395K
- Range
- 1,550 nm
- Speed
- 300 kt
- Seats
- 4
- Cabin length
- 13′ 4″
- Pilots
- 1
- Years built
- 1990–1999
Alternative
- JetGrade
- 67
- Cost per year
- $448K
- Range
- 1,658 nm
- Speed
- 274 kt
- Seats
- 4
- Cabin length
- 12′ 4″
- Pilots
- 1
- Years built
- 2016–2019
Alternative
- JetGrade
- 77
- Price
- $2.9M
- Cost per year
- $515K
- Range
- 1,500 nm
- Speed
- 265 kt
- Seats
- 6
- Cabin length
- 16′ 11″
- Pilots
- 1
- Years built
- 1996–2005
- Daher / Socata TBM 700A instead: About 40 knots faster for a similar asking-price range, but with 1990s airframes, higher fuel burn and a similarly tight full-fuel payload.
- Piper M600 instead: Piper's later model with a new, larger wing, more fuel and a 600 shp engine, for much longer range at a higher price.
- Pilatus PC-12/45 instead: A far larger cabin with a cargo door and room for up to nine passengers, in exchange for a much higher purchase price.
Gold marks the best figure in each row.
Owning one
What to know before you buy
Engines & inspections
1 × Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-42A · 500 shp each
No APUEngine hours until overhaul
- Engine mount check, early aircraft · 50 hr
- Progressive inspection cycle · 100 hr
- Engine hot section inspection · 1,800 hr
- Engine overhaul · 3,600 hr
- Propeller overhaul · 4,000 hr
- Annual inspection every 12 months
Pratt & Whitney Canada's ESP hourly plan is offered on most of its engines; older engines owe a buy-in, and coverage transfers on sale.
Known issues
Engine overhaul near half its value
A 2026 fixed-price PT6A-42A overhaul costs about $577,000, close to half the typical asking price.
Engine mount cracks
Meridians built through mid-2006 developed engine mount cracks; Piper's bulletin requires 50-hour checks until an improved mount is installed.
Wing skin water intrusion
A 2016 directive requires checking wing skin seams; any corrosion found needs an approved, open-ended repair.
Pre-buy checklist
0 of 10 checked
Piper-authorized service centers handle airframe work, and Pratt & Whitney Canada and independent shops such as StandardAero maintain the PT6A-42A engine, including fixed-price overhauls.
Review
The full review
Strengths
- A 500 shp Pratt & Whitney PT6A-42A turbine, overhauled every 3,600 hours, burning about 40 gallons an hour in cruise.
- Cruises at about 260 knots (300 mph) as high as 30,000 ft in a pressurized cabin.
- About 578 were built, and 36 were for sale worldwide in early October 2026, most asking $789,000 to $1.95M.
Limitations
- With full tanks, a typically equipped example carries only about 331 lb after the pilot.
- The cabin is about 4 ft 2 in wide and 3 ft 10 in tall, with 20 cu ft for bags.
- A 2026 fixed-price engine overhaul costs about $577,000, close to half a typical asking price.
The Meridian is the turboprop version of Piper's pressurized PA-46 single. Piper won FAA approval in September 2000 and delivered the first aircraft late that year as 2001 models, pairing a Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-42A turbine with a Malibu Mirage airframe that gained a longer nose and a larger wing and tail. Piper sold it under the Meridian name through 2015, when the same design was renamed the M500. About 578 were built, which makes it one of the most common turbine singles on the used market.
Pilot's take
From the cockpit, the Meridian is a single-pilot turbine built on the familiar Malibu airframe, with the Garmin G1000 and its autopilot standard from 2009. The main discipline is weight and fuel planning. Full tanks and a full cabin do not go together, so every trip starts with a load calculation, and a fuel stop is normal with four adults aboard. Flight into icing requires an aircraft equipped and approved for it, and the stall-warning heater has its own directives to check. Handled that way, it offers turbine reliability and pressurized cruise in the mid-20,000s ft at around 40 gallons an hour.
Who this is for
Owner-pilots stepping up from a piston Malibu or Bonanza, or owners with one professional pilot, who fly one to three people on regional trips and want turbine reliability and pressurization without jet costs.
Ask about this aircraft
Answers come only from our research file on the Meridian PA-46-500TP.
Your earlier questionsOwners
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