ATR chief executive Filippo Bagnato is confident the Franco-Italian airframer can achieve 80 new orders this year as it strives to maintain its backlog at 220 aircraft.
So far in 2013, lessor Air Lease has announced an order for two ATR 72-600s while Caribbean operator LIAT has converted one option.
Bagnato, speaking at a Toulouse media briefing, says ATR is busy working with Garuda Indonesia's low-cost subsidiary Citilink to finalise its 50-aircraft order.
In December 2012 Citilink announced it had selected ATR. The carrier's chief executive Arif Wibowo told Flightglobal that it plans to place a firm order for 25 of the type, with options for a further 25.
In 2012, ATR recorded 74 firm orders worth $1.7 billion with a further 41 options. This compares with 2011's tally of 157 firm orders and 79 options.
Bagnato says ATR has sold around 700 aircraft over the past seven years in the 50- to 90-seat market. "In terms of new sales, ATR accounts for 39% of total sales between 2005 and 2012," he says.
ATR puts Bombardier's Q300 and Q400 turboprops at 21% of the market, while the CRJ family and Embraer 170/175 models take 21% and 19% respectively.
At the end of 2012 ATR had 61% of the total backlog in the 50 to 90-seat aircraft sector. The Q400 accounted for 11%, the CRJ family 17% and the E-170/E-175 11%.
Source: Air Transport Intelligence news
