Profile - The Success Story

With about 60 aircraft operating in the country, the European turboprop manufacturer ATR is today the privileged partner for Indian regional market development with aircraft under liveries of Jet Airways, Kingfisher Airlines, Deccan 360, Air India and Quikjet

Since they entered the Indian market in 1999, ATRs have consolidated themselves as the most popular turboprop aircraft among regional carriers in India. With about 60 aircraft operating in the country, the European turboprop manufacturer is today the privileged partner for Indian regional market development with aircraft under liveries of Jet Airways, Kingfisher Airlines, Deccan 360, Air India and Quikjet. These aircraft produce more than 10,000 monthly flights which represent more than 80 per cent of the total movements of aircraft below 100 seats flying in the country. Meanwhile, its direct turboprop competitor had more difficulties to enter the market and will only count, by the end 2012, 15 Dash 8 Q-400s operated by a single airline—SpiceJet.

ATR’s leadership in the regional market has been confirmed worldwide with an exceptional year in 2011: 157 firm orders and 79 options, while Bombardier got less than 10 orders for the Q400, setting the new sales record of the manufacturer since the launch of the programme. This outstanding commercial result underlines also the success of its new ATR-600 series, which is another milestone in the continuous development of ATR product. And this success is strengthened by renowned lessors’ significant orders demonstrating unanimously their confidence in ATR 72-600 versus its competitor. So what are the reasons of this success? Some answers are given below to explain why regional carriers, as in India, have mostly voted for ATR to develop their regional traffic.

Comfort: Space, Appeal and Quietness

ATR aircraft benefit from the largest cross section among regional turboprops, with 23 centimetres wider floor and six centimetres wider aisle than its main competitor, the Bombardier Dash 8 Q-400. ATR’s available space per passenger (on a 4-breast configuration) is even comparable to the one offered by single aisle aircraft (with six-breast configuration), thus providing the same level of comfort for connecting passengers. In addition, the new ATR-600 series cabin, designed by Italian design house Giugiaro, feature new light and slim seats with improved life space and additional legroom, new stylish PSU panels and modern LED lighting. This new cabin, named “Armonia”, benefits also from wider overhead bins which are able to carry bigger roller bags than any other turboprop aircraft. In addition, like the-500 series, the ATR-600 series offers a very quiet cabin thanks to its built-in acoustic treatment with stiffened frames and dynamic vibration absorbers. The main advantages of this system compared to the Bombardier Q400 complex ANVS system are 100 per cent reliability, maintenance free, constant performance over time for a similar noise level reduction.

State-of-the-art Technology

The new generation ATR-600 series (recently EASA-certified regional aircraft), feature the most technologically advanced glass cockpit, developed by Thales and inspired on the avionics of A380. This most modern avionics suite results in substantial reduction of pilot stress and workload, better reliability, safety and operational improvements. The main differences with existing avionic suites are the extensive use of automatic checklists, automatic system failure detection and pop up of appropriate procedures.

Performances Designed for a Challenging Environment

ATR-600 aircraft benefit from many advantages of new standard Pratt & Whitney 127M engines, including a “boost” option to further enhance performance on hot and high environments, and RTO 100 per cent capabilities to get optimal performance on small runways. Compared to its competitor, the ATR 72 has better short runway capabilities thus enabling Indian operators to open new routes to remote underserved airports with poor infrastructure.

Economics of ATR 72

The main utilisation of regional aircraft in India consists in linking secondary airports and feeding main hubs for medium- and long-haul operations. The average regional route in India is 240 nautical miles (nm), the optimum distance for ATR economics. Indeed, fuel efficiency and low maintenance costs are the main strengths of the ATRs. Indeed, on a typical regional route, the Dash 8 Q400 burns 40 per cent more fuel than ATR 72. This is particularly significant in India where fuel prices are probably the highest in the world. Thus with a fuel price of Rs. 55,000/KL ($4.15/ US gal), this leads to an additional fuel bill for the Q400 of Rs. 20.000 ($400) per flight or $1.2 million ( Rs. 6 crore) per year per aircraft. The weight related charges also favour the ATR 72 against the Q400. Bombardier’s Q-400 weight is some 30 per cent higher than ATR’s (30 tonnes versus 23 tonnes), which has a clear impact on radio navigation charges (RNFC), terminal charges (TNLC) and landing charges which are all linked to the maximum take-off weight of the aircraft. Therefore, without considering the acquisition costs (list price of the ATR 72 is less expensive than Dash 8 Q400), the 78-seater Dash 8 Q400 has 25 per cent higher operating costs per trip than the 72-seat ATR 72 (15 per cent higher operating cost per seat). The ATR 72 is the only aircraft today in the 70 seats category to match the cost per seat of Boeing and Airbus single aisle on short distance. This achievement is obviously one of the key reasons for ATR being a best seller in India and worldwide.