Asia drives record year for ATR

ATR achieved a record year in terms of aircraft orders and deliveries in 2014, as Asia’s emerging airlines boosted the turboprop-maker’s business.

The French company ended the year with 160 aircraft orders, along with 120 options, exceeding the previous record (157 sales and 79 options) set in 2011. ATR also achieved a record turnover in 2014, reaching US$1.8 billion, and increased its deliveries to 83 aircraft, compared with 74 in 2013.

Patrick de Castelbajac, CEO of ATR, said he was “delighted with ATR’s excellent performance in 2014”.

“Our aircraft are the undisputed world reference among regional airlines and aircraft leasing companies. Whether for their low operating costs, their reliability and versatility, or their small environmental footprint and value retention over time, ATRs today are the preferred aircraft of short-haul network operators. We continue to increase our production rates, develop our aircraft and expand our global footprint across the world with the aim of better serving our customers,” said de Castelbajac.

Airlines in the Asia Pacific region were a key factor in ATR’s success in 2014. Indonesia’s Lion Air become the planemaker’s largest customer when it signed a US$1bn purchase agreement for 40 ATR 72-600s in November 2014, taking its total order book to 100 aircraft.

ATR also reached a major milestone with the signing of the 1,000th order for the ATR 72, which will fly with Papua New Guinea’s Airlines PNG.

Bangkok Airways also welcomed the first of an order for nine ATR 72-600s last year, while Indonesia’s TransNusa received its first ATR 42-600, Fiji Link welcomed its first ATR72-600 and Myanma Airways placed an order for up to 12 ATR 72-600s.

Asia Pacific now accounts for nearly 40% of the sales of the ATR -600 series, and the region’s carriers now operate more than 300 ATR aircraft, with a further 100 on order.

As a result of the 2014 performance, ATR ended the year with a backlog of 280 aircraft – another all-time high.