High fuel prices have helped ATR (Avions de Transport Regional) bounce back after a difficult couple of years.
Hot on the heels of its 30-aircraft ATR 72-500 order from Indian low-cost carrier Air Deccan, ATR will be announcing three orders at Paris airshow.
The result is what the firm is calling the best commercial year in the last decade and clear evidence that the turboprop market has recovered.
"Fifty plus is what we have written on the walls at our base," says Filippo Bagnato, chief executive of ATR. "That's the sales we have achieved since the beginning of the year and we are looking for more."
He says sky high fuel prices are just one of three key factors in the ATR renaissance, the others being renewed growth in airline traffic and the growing trend toward low-cost carriers.
Fuel prices are hurting the airlines badly and, in Bagnato's opinion, that is benefiting the turboprop manufacturers who only a couple of years were being told - by the jet makers - that their days were numbered because airlines wanted only jets.
"What the airlines want is cost control. Take a 300nm (550km) trip and you will find that the direct operating costs per seat are $20-$30 less on an ATR 72 than on a 70-seat jet. That is critical to an airline."
Renaissance is not too strong a word for what ATR has achieved this year: at the turn of the year, ATR had a backlog of just 10 aircraft. How worried was he at that point?
"I don't know about being very worried," he says. "We had had two terrible years in 2002 and 2003 but we had seen some recovery in 2004 with strong activity in the second-hand market.
Recovery
"Now we are seeing the full recovery for new aircraft as well as continued strong activity in the second-hand market."
The orders to be announced at the show come from Asia Pacific, Africa and from Europe, he adds, stressing that the appeal of the turboprop aircraft extends to mature markets as well as the developing world.
Far from being a spent force, ATR has been investing in the future and will not just be talking about new orders at the show.
It will be showing off its new interior in the first ATR 72 aircraft to be handed over to Air Deccan. It features "Futura" type seats for greater comfort, new cabin lighting for low-cost maintenance and LCD screens for better on-board service.
And the aircraft now has a 40-year economic life expectancy following the Ageing Structures Programme which saw the number of expected cycles raised from 70,000 to 105,000. "Everything we do is based on a partnership with airlines. It is no longer just about selling new aircraft. We have to understand what it is they want and then give it to them."
Bagnato says affectionately that his aircraft "flies like a mule." He explains: "That is not pretty but it is what the airlines want. They want an aircraft that will do 3,000h a year with great dispatch reliability and not give any problems."
MIKE MARTIN
Source: Flight Daily News
