Turboprop aircraft will maintain and slightly improve their position in the regional airline market, the chief of ATR said at the show yesterday.
Announcing the firm's first order of the year – an ATR 72-500 to Air Tahiti – chief executive Jean-Michel Leonard said that regional airlines were "going back to basics" in their operations, and that favoured the superior operating economics of turboprops.
Basics
"There will be a substantial share of the regional transportation market for the turboprop. It has a future that is further enhanced by the current economic crisis," he says. "The basics in terms of regional transportation means the economics of the turboprop and something which is comfortable."
He adds that in some regions of the world there is an increased environmental awareness, something also favouring turboprops "because they are more environmentally friendly."
Against a backdrop of the onslaught of regional jets in the regional market, last year ATR won 25 orders and Leonard says the firm expects a similar tally this year. The sale to Air Tahiti brings the Pacific carrier's fleet to five ATR 72s and four ATR 42s.
Source: Flight Daily News
