ATR

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For other uses, see ATR (disambiguation).

Avions de Transport Régional Aerei da Trasporto Regionale

Type of Company	Joint venture
Founded	1981
Headquarters	Blagnac near Toulouse, France
Key people	Filippo Bagnato (CEO)
Industry	Aerospace
Employees	570 (?)
Parent	EADS (50%) Finmeccanica (Alenia) (50%)
Website	atraircraft.com

The Italian-French based aircraft manufacturer Aerei da Trasporto Regionale or Avions de Transport Régional (ATR) was formed in 1981, from the consortium formed by Aérospatiale of France (now EADS) and Aeritalia (now Alenia Aeronautica), of Italy.

1 Aircraft
2 Production locations
3 Variants
4 Airline service
- 4.1 ATR in India
5 Military service
6 Accidents
7 Specifications
8 Facts and trivia
9 References
10 External links

[edit] Aircraft

ATR 42 & ATR 72

ATR 72 of Aer Arann at take off
Type	Airliner
Manufacturer	ATR
Maiden flight	1984
Introduced	1985
Status	In revenue service
Primary user	American Eagle

The ATR 42 and ATR 72 are the two models of aircraft built by ATR. American Eagle, the regional airline company of American Airlines under the AMR Corporation, refers to its ATR 72s as Super ATRs. These models are twin-turboprop short-haul regional airliners. The ATR 42 seats up to 60 passengers, while the ATR 72 seats 74 passengers. Both aircraft are operated by a two person crew.

The ATR 42 is the initial version and was announced in 1981, making its maiden flight on 16 August 1984; French and Italian approval (certification) followed in September 1985 and the first revenue earning flight was in December 1985.

The ATR 72 is the basic ATR 42 stretched by 4.5 m (14 ft 9 in) with modified wings, more powerful engines, greater fuel capacity and other increased dimensions compared with the ATR 42. The ATR 72 was announced at the 1985 Paris Air Show and made its maiden flight on October 27, 1988. Exactly one year after that, on October 27, 1989, commuter airline Kar Air of Finland became the first company to put the plane into service.

In April 2000, ATR delivered its 600th ATR, an ATR 72-500 to Air Dolomiti. Customer airlines include Air Bosna, Air New Zealand, Alitalia, Arkia, Czech Airlines, Israir, Jat Airways, LOT Polish Airlines, Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), Olympic Airlines,TACV, TAROM, Thai Airways International and Vietnam Airlines. FedEx recently purchased several used ATR 42s and 72s from different airlines for conversion to cargo use.

Development of a 78-passenger ATR 82, which would have been powered by two Rolls-Royce/Allison AE 2100 turboprops, was suspended in early 1996.

[edit] Production locations

Alenia Aeronautica’s manufacturing facilities in Pomigliano near Naples, Italy, produce the aircraft fuselage and tail sections. Aircraft wings are assembled at EADS Sogerma Services in Bordeaux in western France for Airbus France. Final assembly, flight-testing, certification and deliveries are the responsibility of ATR in Toulouse, France.

Some of the main fuselage sections for the ATR are produced in China at Shaanxi aerospace facility, Xian.

ATR 42 of the Welsh airline Air Wales

Aurigny Air Services ATR 72-200 at Bristol Airport

Aurigny Air Services ATR72-200 taking off

A Bangkok Airways ATR 72 at Luang Prabang airport, Laos (passengers boarding by the rear door).

ATR 72 of Aer Arann landing

[edit] Variants

There are six variants of the ATR 42:

ATR 42-200
ATR 42-300
ATR 42-320
ATR 42 Cargo
ATR 42-400
ATR 42-500

There are four variants of the ATR 72:

ATR 72-200, the original production version
ATR 72-210, with uprated engines
ATR 72-500, originally named the ATR 72-210A, with higher weights and improved airfield performance.
ATR 52C, the first ATR 72 freighter with a large cargo door. Unveiled at Farnborough 2002.

[edit] Airline service

By March 2003, 685 ATR 42 had been ordered and 306 ATR 72. Of these orders, 655 had been delivered.

In August 2006 a total of 312 ATR 42 aircraft (all variants) remain in airline service, with 12 further firm orders. Major operators include:

Aeromar (16)
Air Deccan (15)
Air Contractors (11)
Airlinair (17)
Trigana Air Service (7)
Air Dolomiti (6)
Contact Air (7)
Czech Airlines (8)
DAT Danish Air Transport (7)
Olympic Airlines (6)
Tarom (7)
Total Linhas Aereas (9)
Empire Airlines (11)
Mountain Air Cargo (10)
Pantanal Linhas Aereas (6)
Linhas Aereas (10)

Some 71 other airlines operate smaller numbers of the type.^[1]

In August 2006 a total of 297 ATR 72 aircraft (all variants) also remain in airline service, with 91 further firm orders. Major operators include:

Some 47 other airlines also operate the type in smaller numbers.

Major firm orders include:

[edit] ATR in India

ATR has captured a major share of the civil turboprop market in India. ATR aircraft are operating to smaller Indian towns which did not have any regularly scheduled air service. In view of the explosive growth in the Indian civil aviation market, Indian airlines have announced several aggressive ATR aircraft acquisition programs (as of July 2006):

Air Deccan was India's first low cost carrier and the first private airline to focus on connecting smaller Indian towns and cities in southern India. It started scheduled services in 2003 with four leased ATR 42-320. On Jan 6, 2005 it announced plans to acquire 30 new ATR 72-500 aircraft and 6 second-hand aircraft (3 ATR 42-500 and 3 ATR 72-500), at this point the airline operated 12 ATR 42s on its network.

Kingfisher Airlines announced at the 2005 Dubai Air Show that it was placing a firm order for 20 ATR 72-500 aircraft with options for 15 more. The first aircraft was delivered on March 30, 2006. At the 2006 Farnborough Airshow Kingfisher confirmed the 15 additional ATR 72-500 aircraft options and took options on 20 more. Kingfisher has also been a pioneer airline in introducing in-flight entertainment in its ATRs.

Jet Airways operates 8 ATR 72-500.

Indian operates 4 ATR-42 aircraft.

[edit] Military service

ATR-72/500 ASW/ASuW maritime patrol aircraft selected by the Turkish Navy

The ATR-72/500 ASW/ASuW maritime patrol aircraft has been selected by the Turkish Navy. A total of ten ATR-72/500 ASW/ASuW aircraft will be delivered to the Turkish Navy by 2010. The aircraft will be armed with anti-surface missiles and torpedoes for ASuW and ASW missions.hey will also be equipped with EW and reconnaissance systems and will also be used for maritime SAR operations.

[edit] Accidents

American Eagle flight 4184 crashed due to icing on October 31, 1994 in Roselawn, Indiana. The accident had a significant effect on deicing procedures in the United States, as well as American Airlines' utilization of turboprop aircraft in specific geographical areas.
On 11 October 1999, an Air Botswana captain boarded an ATR-42 aircraft and took off. Once in the air, he asked by radio to speak to the president, Air Botswana's general manager and others. In spite of all attempts to persuade him to land and discuss his grievances, he stated he was going to crash into some planes on the apron. After a flying time of about 2 hours, he did two loops and then crashed at 200 knots (230 mph) into Air Botswana's two other ATR-42s parked on the apron. The captain was killed but there were no other casualties. He had been grounded on medical reasons, refused reinstatement and regrounded until February 2000.[1]
On May 9, 2004 an American Eagle Super ATR, flight 5401, crash-landed in San Juan, Puerto Rico when one of the tires blew. Seventeen people were injured, but there were no fatalities.
On August 6, 2005, an ATR 72 from Bari, Italy, on its way to Djerba, Tunisia, crashed into the Mediterranean Sea about 18 miles from the city of Palermo, during an emergency sea landing. 16 of the 39 on board died. The plane was operated by Tuninter, an affiliate of Tunisair, the national airline of Tunisia. The reason for the crash was engine fuel starvation, a contributing reason was the installation of wrong fuel quantity indicators. Maintenance had installed an ATR42 indicator in this ATR72.

[edit] Specifications

Measurement	ATR 42	ATR 72
Accommodation	44/46/48/50	74
Range	2,965 km	1,685 km
Wingspan	24.57 m	27.1 m
Length	22.67 m	27.2 m
Height	7.59 m	7.7 m
Maximum Take-Off Weight	16,700 kg (ATR42-300/320) 18,700 kg (ATR42-500)	22,500 kg
Powerplant	Pratt & Whitney Canada PW120 x 2 (ATR42-300) \ PW121 x 2 (ATR42-320) \ PW127E × 2 (ATR42-500)	Pratt & Whitney Canada PW127 × 2 (ATR72-210)\ PW127F × 2 (ATR72-500)