New Zealand Aviation NEWS: ustralia now on radar for turboprop manufacturer ATR

Australia had largely been a white spot on the map for the European plane maker, despite deriving more than half its orders from the Asia-Pacific and its planes flying in New Zealand.

It set out to rectify the problem five years ago by opening an office in Sydney that head of sales John Moore says is now reaping the fruits of its labour.

"There was no reason why we shouldn't be present in Australia - we think we have a product that's well-suited to the market and there are some opportunities here," Mr Moore said from this week's Avalon air show.

A joint venture between EADS and Alenia Aeronautica, Toulouse-based ATR posted revenues of $US1.35 billion last year and is a major competitor for Canada's Bombardier.

Virgin Blue is bankrolling up to 18 ATR 72 aircraft as part of a strategic alliance with Perth-based Skywest Airlines.

Virgin will "wet lease" the 68-seat aircraft - lease them complete with crew - as part of a plan to build a national regional network.

The first six planes will replace Virgin's Embraer E170 jet fleet, which is being sold, with the first four arriving mid-year and four more next year.

The Virgin decision comes as Hevilift PNG has added two smaller ATR 42s to meet growing demand in the resources sector and plans to base two of the aircraft in Cairns. Indonesia's Lion Air also recently converted ATR 72-500 options into firm orders from its Wings Air unit.

Mr Moore said the ATR 72 was a proven workhorse with high reliability and was a greener, more fuel-efficient aircraft than the rival Q400.

"It's really a very optimal aircraft in terms of its payload-range capabilities on shorter segments," he said. "The Q400 flies a lot faster but of course it burns more fuel as a consequence.

"So if you're looking at the shorter routes - 200 to 300 nautical miles - you're going to get a lot more efficiency on the ATR in terms of fuel burn and the consequent environmental aspect in terms of emissions."

He also noted that the Virgin decision to ditch its jets in favour of the more efficient turbo-props was part of a growing trend.

Virgin Blue's analysis of its planes show the ATR-72's fuel cost per available seat kilometre is less than half that of E170 for a similar flight time, 10 fewer seats and just over two-thirds of the capital cost.

"There has really been quite a dramatic shift in the market dynamics over the past three years. Last year we took a total of 80 orders and that's been a fairly consistent trend since 2005," he said. "Since 2005, we have sold more than 350 aircraft which is about a third of total sales since the beginning of the program, or a bit less than that.

"So it's really been quite a return which is driven partly by the economics and fuel price and partly by the growth and development in this segment of the market.

"So consequently we've been increasing our production and we have a healthy backlog of around 160 aircraft and we have a fairly positive long-term forecast over the next 20 years of something in the range of 3000 turboprops."

ATR will also be turning its attention to the resources sector and airlines flying older 35 to 50-seat turboprops that could be prospective buyers of the 45-seat ATR 42.

By
Neha Jain

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