It remains clear that following a steady and successful Paris Air Show, ATR will want to continue this streak going into the Dubai Air Show. Let’s preview.
The French planemaker secured 22 firm orders and two options in Le Bourget, which is broken down into the following:
- 6 ATR 72-600 from Mandarin Airlines
- 2 ATR 72-600 with “All-Business Class” premium configuration from Berjaya Air
- 3 ATR 72-600 from Azul, plus options for 2 additional aircraft
- 8 ATR 72-600 from 3 undisclosed customers
- 3 ATR 42-600 from 2 undisclosed customers.
So, can they continue this steady success?
Dubai Air Show: ATR Will Want To Continue Steady Success…
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ATR will want to continue it’s steady success in the way that they always seem to have a specific theme for aircraft orders.
At the Farnborough Air Show, the focus was on the Japanese regional market, with that continuing somewhat in Le Bourget, but what about the Middle East?
Could there be scope for smaller operators within the region to maybe take some of the ATR STOL aircraft that the manufacturer is currently developing and getting ready for commercial service?
There will most likely be an exception that ATR will want to maybe showcase some orders of the STOL variant at the Dubai Air Show, following a lot of advertising about the jet over the past year or so.
In the AviationSource preview for the Farnborough Air Show last July, there was a lot of conversation around whether secondhand purchasing of ATR aircraft could be a factor in not many new aircraft being sold.
Let’s take Aer Lingus Regional, operated by Emerald Airlines in the UK for example. They are adding new ATR aircraft to their fleet, but they are coming from previous owners.
Therefore, ATR needs to come up with a way that encourages airlines to buy new, rather than used. And with the COVID-19 pandemic causing a lot of leases to end early, there is a huge market for secondhand regional aircraft.
With this in mind, the planemaker needs to showcase a new style of sales strategy, otherwise, the second-hand market will create further detriment than what they are already witnessing.
Looking ahead, all eyes will be on the European planemaker to see what orders they may have in their back pocket, and whether we could see some solid orders for the STOL moving forward.
But for now, all we can do is sit and wait for them to come through at the Dubai Air Show.
AviationSource now has the dedicated Dubai Air Show page setup in advance of the airshow taking place a week today. Be sure to visit it by clicking here and keep it in your bookmarks!
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