ATR: 144 aircraft sold in six months with options for a further 112

ATR, the European turboprop aircraft manufacturer, an equal joint venture between Airbus and Finmeccanica, announced yesterday at the Farnborough International Airshow that in the first half of 2014 it achieved a record 144 aircraft sold (119 ATR 72-600 and 25 ATR 42-600), plus options for a further 112 aircraft.

Farnborough  14 July 2014

ATR, the European turboprop aircraft manufacturer, an equal joint venture between Airbus and Finmeccanica, announced yesterday at the Farnborough International Airshow that in the first half of 2014 it achieved a record 144 aircraft sold (119 ATR 72-600 and 25 ATR 42-600), plus options for a further 112 aircraft.

 

The contracts signed during the year, for a total value of more than 3.45 billion dollars (6 billion also considering the options), an increase in sales of over 50% compared to all 2013, represent a further confirmation of the leadership gained by ATR on the regional aviation market and the predominance of turboprop aircraft on short-haul flights. The ATR's order book currently stands at over 320 aircraft, with a value of 8 billion dollars, equivalent to more than four years of production.

 

ATR plans to achieve by year-end the target of 80 delivered aircraft, and to further expand the presence of its support centres to the more than 180 operators using the aircraft worldwide.

 

One of the contracts signed yesterday, many of which will be revealed in the course of this week at Farnborough, is the order ratified by with Nordic Aviation Capital, the Danish leasing company that is among the major customers of the European manufacturer, for 25 ATR 42-600s and 50 options, for a value of 1.55 billion dollars. Another agreement has been signed today between ATR and the U.S. company Air Lease Corporation for the purchase of seven ATR 72-600s, which are in addition to the other aircraft already purchased by the leasing company since 2010, bringing its fleet of ATR 72-600s to 28.

 

The more than 500 aircraft of the -600 series sold since 2007 confirm the interest shown in the family of turboprops by regional carriers and international leasing companies. This interest is due to the significant advantages in terms of economic and environmental performance of the aircraft, their technical reliability and their standard of comfort. A success that ATR was able to cope with by increasing by 40% the production capacity of its factory in Toulouse (Airbus) and Pomigliano d'Arco (Finmeccanica-Alenia Aermacchi) to fully respond to the growing demands of the market, a rate that the manufacturer will continue to increase together with the development of its product range.