‘India still has strong and untapped potential ahead’

There are 60 aircraft flying across India and the company estimates that there is room for more than 200 additional ATRs in the coming years. In an interview with SP’s AirBuz, Filippo Bagnato, Chief Executive Officer, ATR, stated that ATR product performs safely in Indian environment and can be the perfect aircraft.

SP’s AirBuz (SP’s): Regional aircraft from ATR have been extremely popular in India since their introduction into the Indian market in 1999. What in your view are the reasons for the resounding success?

Filippo Bagnato (Bagnato): The development of the Indian economy in the few last years is strongly associated with the development of transportation, and new air services are bringing substantial increase of connectivity into regions that traditionally had low transportation infrastructures. In the context of economic growth and development of air networks across the country, ATRs perfectly match the Indian carriers’ requirements. ATRs have the lowest fuel, maintenance and operating costs among all regional aircraft. When compared to other turboprop aircraft on an average route of 240 nm, an ATR can help Indian carriers save about $1.2 million ( Rs. 6 crore) . This means that ATRs bring airlines the possibility of proposing optimised rates to an increasing number of passengers and continue developing regional networks. Also, ATRs have contributed in bringing regional air connectivity to small airfields with low levels of infrastructure or to tough runways. These outstanding operational performances are combined with high levels of passenger comfort inside the cabin, which has contributed to further increase in popularity of the ATRs across India. We have set up customer support facilities in India (with one office in Bangalore and several representatives on the major Indian metros), so Indian carriers can rely on ATR’s knowledge and close presence on their day-to-day operations.

SP’s: What is the perception of ATR about the potential of the regional aviation market in India over the next 25 years?

Bagnato: India, as one of the most dynamics markets in the world, has strongly contributed to the expansion of ATR in the recent years and has still strong and untapped potential ahead. We have today 60 aircraft flying across the country and we estimate that there is room for more than 200 additional ATRs in the coming years.

SP’s: What steps has ATR taken or is contemplating to take in order to retain its dominant position in the Indian market consequent to the induction of a competitor, the Bombardier Q400?

Bagnato: The ATR largely remains the most popular regional aircraft in India, and is highly appreciated by passengers. There are 60 ATRs versus 15 Q-400s in the country. Also, we have five operators across the country, while Bombardier has one. We have been the first aircraft manufacturer to have in the country, since 2006, a fully dedicated customer support centre to help the airlines operations. To retain our position in the market and even increase it, we are constantly improving our products and our services in terms of latest technology and cost-effective solutions. Our new ATR-600 series aircraft—certified and being delivered since last year—is today the most updated and technologically advanced aircraft, both from a passenger and pilot point of views. Their new standard PW127M engines bring increased performances in hot and high environments, and the aircraft continues to feature the lowest operating costs of the market. Because of these reasons, we are convinced that we are optimally positioned to keep ATR as the preferred option for Indian regional operations.

SP’s: Does ATR plan to foray into the pure jet regional aviation market and if not, why not?

Bagnato: Jet aircraft is not in our category and worldwide regional aircraft sales in the last few years show that regional jets tend to concentrate on the above 90-seat market as it becomes more and more difficult to operate them profitably under this seat category. We estimate a demand for more than 3,000 turboprops in the next two decades. There is a huge market for the type of aircraft for which we have developed a more than 30-year manufacturing experience.

SP’s: What are the plans of ATR for regional aviation aircraft beyond the ATR-600 series?

Bagnato: There is a worldwide trend showing airlines going towards larger capacity aircraft to cope with traffic increases and to reduce seat costs. We see this trend also in the regional turboprop market and we estimate that among the expected demand for 3,000 turboprops, one-third will be on the 90-seat category. We are working closely with engine manufacturers and other suppliers to evaluate the development of a larger-capacity aircraft which would feature lower cost per seat and further increased performances and comfort.

SP’s: What measures have ATR adopted or is contemplating to address the ever increasing environmental concerns?

Bagnato: I will give you a clear figure. If you operate a fleet of ten ATRs instead of an equivalent-sized fleet of regional jets on an Indian typical sector of 240 Nm, fuel burnt differences will make you save more than 50,000 tonnes of CO₂ each year, which the equivalent of removing 10,000 cars off the road per year. If you compare with an equivalent fleet of Q-400s, you reach savings of 25,000 tonnes of CO₂. Besides this, we have been the first regional aircraft manufacturer to be certified ISO14001, regarding environmental friendliness, on the whole lifecycle of the aircraft, from design to dismantling.

SP’s: What is the economics of operating ATR aircraft for domestic air cargo segment of the airline industry in India?

Bagnato: ATR’s success extends through several cargo operations worldwide by major companies such as DHL, FEDEX and UPS, and in India, with Deccan 360 and Quikjet, underlining the strong residual value of the ATR aircraft for cargo operations. As for passenger operations, ATRs bring substantial savings in operating and maintenance costs. And, at the same time, ATR’s fuselage structure enables that no specific loader is required to upload or download the aircraft, making it more attractive and viable for smaller airports with low levels of service and infrastructures.

SP’s: What is the state of maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) facilities in India for ATR aircraft operating in India as well as in the region?

Bagnato: Since its introduction in the country, ATR has acted as a partner of the airlines. We helped a majority of them develop their own maintenance capabilities; as a result you have today in this region very experienced aircraft engineers. With ATR fleet size that doubled in the past five years and with the launch of low-cost carriers, there has also been a need to develop MRO capabilities outside the airlines. For this reason we have supported the initiative of Indian private companies that have today state-of-the-art components repair facilities and airframe MROs, approved by the Indian DGCA as well as by the European EASA. This allow airlines to greatly reduce their costs by outsourcing and performing their airframe and components maintenance locally while few years ago some aircraft had to fly abroad for major maintenance.

SP’s: In your experience what are the specific conditions of this region that ATR aircraft is facing?

Bagnato: This is among the biggest and most populated region of the world with specific weather conditions. The challenges that our aircraft faces every day is mainly a hot and humid environment, monsoon season, low airport infrastructures, high utilisation and frequent rotations. Some of the aircraft in this region are flying for almost 10 hours a day; we have totally accumulated more than 6,00,000 flights and our product is able to keep a technical dispatch reliability of more than 99.5 per cent (that means you have a probability of less than one technical delay for every 200 departures). Based on 12 years of practical experience in the Indian region, we do believe that our product performs safely and very well in this environment and can be the perfect aircraft to help the development of the aviation section for our existing and future new airlines.