LONDON – With the Farnborough Air Show 2022 starting in less than a week, let’s begin our preview ahead of the event. Next, we take a look at ATR and how they require further strength in the turboprop market.
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ATR72-600 Main Focus at Farnborough?
The ATR72-600 will be on static display at Farnborough, hinting at the idea that the aircraft will be the main focus at the Farnborough Air Show.
Such a focus won’t come as a surprise, given the fact the -600 was ranked 1st as an asset in the regional aircraft market three years in a row and offers low CO2 emissions of 69g per seat per km.
The manufacturer does have a core set of customers who operate a lot of 72-600s, but they are looking to expand this further going forward.
The 72-600 has been a popular aircraft, with ATR delivering over 1,000 of them since the program launched in 1988, but this has been across the span of 32 years.
Therefore, more work will need to be done to attract more carriers to delve into the regional world, that’s for sure.
What About The STOL Aircraft?
The ATR42-600STOL (Short Take-Off and Landing) aircraft will definitely be an asset to focus on at the airshow.
With there being over 1,000 airports with a runway length of 800m, the manufacturer will want to place focus on securing sales for that aircraft type.
The first test flight of the aircraft was completed back in May this year, with the flight lasting around two hours and 15 minutes, which marked a new milestone in regional flying.
The STOL will offer a unique selling point to customers, but again it does come down to who will want to purchase those aircraft, and whether many will be sold moving forward.
Will Secondhand Purchases Affect ATR?
A lot of airlines have been purchasing secondhand ATR aircraft, and this may be a factor in ATR not selling that many new units to customers.
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, ATR needs to showcase a new style of sales strategy, otherwise, the second-hand market will create further detriment than what they are already witnessing.
Overall…
It remains clear that ATR has a lot of work to do. They are hoping that whatever orders they have lined up in their back pocket will be enough to continue the vital work that they do in the regional space.
The -600 and STOL aircraft will most likely be the core focuses for the manufacturer to thrive commercially and will want to keep backlogs healthy to keep jobs secured.
COVID was a hard enough feat for the manufacturer to get through. Now they are on the other side, they can now think to the future, and that is a future that hopefully will feature a strong backlog.
Be sure to follow our live coverage of the airshow at AviationSource!
