[5] The original company, formed in 2002 to build the aircraft, was started by Richard Noble who was responsible for the team that first broke the sound barrier on land.

Noble envisioned the aircraft's primary role as being part of a fleet of "air taxis" in Europe, provided as an alternative to both commercial airlines and chartered corporate jets.

The wing is also of carbon-fiber construction and features a high lift laminar flow design worked out mostly by aerodynamicist Dr. Gordon Robinson.

[12] In early 2010 a business relationship was formed with Liberty Aerospace of Melbourne, Florida, United States to provide assistance with Toray carbon fiber components.

[4] In July 2010, Alan Klapmeier, co-founder of Cirrus Design Corporation, joined with Anthony Galley and others in the renamed Kestrel Aircraft Company.

Kestrel CEO Alan Klapmeier also stated that funding delays had slowed progress on the aircraft and that a conforming prototype was now expected to be ready in the summer of 2014, with the first customer delivery forecast for the end of 2015 or early 2016.

[16] In early 2014 it was reported that Kestrel Aircraft had fallen months behind on loan payments to the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC) due to financing delays.

[19] In October 2017 the state of Wisconsin announced that it was commencing legal action against the Kestrel division of One Aviation for failure to repay US$4M in loans given to it in 2012, plus more in tax benefits.

One Aviation CEO Alan Klapmeier told AIN Online that development of the Kestrel K-350 "had been shelved" while the company focuses on other aircraft projects.