ATR (aircraft manufacturer)

ATR

Company type	Economic Interest Group
Industry	Aerospace
Founded	1981
Founder	Aérospatiale and Aeritalia
Headquarters	Blagnac, near Toulouse , France
Area served	Worldwide
Products	Regional turboprop aircraft (ATR 42, ATR 72)
Parent	Airbus (formerly Aérospatiale), Leonardo (formerly Aeritalia)

ATR (, ) is a Franco-Italian aerospace manufacturer based in Blagnac, France, near Toulouse. Established in 1981 as a collaborative Economic Interest Group between France's Aérospatiale (currently Airbus) and Italy's Aeritalia (now Leonardo), ATR focuses on producing regional turboprop aircraft. Its flagship models include the ATR 42 and ATR 72. To date, ATR has delivered over 1,700 planes to more than 200 operators spanning upwards of 100 countries.

Manufacturing

The fuselage and tail assemblies are produced at Leonardo’s facility located in Pomigliano d'Arco, near Naples, Italy. Meanwhile, wing assembly is handled by Airbus France at the Sogerma plant in Bordeaux. ATR oversees the final assembly, flight testing, certification processes, and aircraft deliveries from its headquarters in Toulouse, France.

1980s

Reflecting the European aerospace consolidation trends during the 1960s and 1970s, French firm Aérospatiale and Italian company Aeritalia joined forces to create a new regional airliner. Prior to their partnership, both had separately explored aircraft projects—the AS 35 by Aérospatiale and the AIT 230 by Aeritalia—addressing market needs since 1978.

On 4 November 1981, Aeritalia’s chairman Renato Bonifacio and Aérospatiale’s chairman Jacques Mitterrand signed a Cooperation Agreement in Paris, merging their respective designs into a joint venture. The alliance aimed to produce an aircraft with unit costs competitive with rivals but offering substantially better fuel efficiency over a comparable sector, targeting a stretched model with 58 seats.

This pact resulted in the creation of ATR and the development of its inaugural aircraft, the ATR 42. By 1983, ATR had set up a global customer support division to assist operators worldwide.

The ATR 42–200 conducted its first flight on 16 August 1984 from Toulouse Airport. Certification was granted by both French and Italian aviation authorities in September 1985, permitting commercial operations. The initial production ATR 42-300 was handed over to French launch customer Air Littoral in December 1985, commencing revenue flights that same month. Confident about market prospects, ATR announced plans for the larger ATR 72 in January 1986.

By 1988, Thai Airways International received the delivery of the 200th ATR aircraft. In September 1989, ATR reached its original sales goal of 400 units. Deliveries of the ATR 72 also began that year; both models were often ordered together subsequently. Sharing a production line and most components enabled sustained manufacturing for both types; as of 2015, the ATR 42 remained the sole regional aircraft with a capacity of around 50 seats still in production.

1990s

In September 1992, Finnish airline Karair took delivery of the 300th ATR aircraft, while on 5 September 1997, American Eagle Airlines in the United States received the company’s 500th ATR.

To maintain competitiveness within the regional airliner segment during the 1990s, ATR introduced various enhancements to the ATR 42 model. The original ATR 42-300 continued production until 1996 alongside the upgraded ATR 42-320, which incorporated more powerful PW121 engines for enhanced performance. Additionally, the ATR 42-300QC offered quick-change capabilities between freight and passenger configurations based on the −300 series.

The most significant improvement arrived with the ATR 42−500 series, announced in June 1993. It made its maiden flight in September 1994 and secured certification by July 1995. This -500 variant featured new PW127 engines, six-bladed propellers, improved performance under hot-and-high conditions, increased maximum takeoff weight, and an upgraded passenger cabin environment. The first delivery was completed to Italian carrier Air Dolomiti in October 1995, with commercial service beginning in January 1996. In July 1998, ATR established its Asset Management Department to further support its operational activities.

2000s

On 28 April 2000, ATR celebrated the delivery of its 600th aircraft—an ATR 72-500—to Air Dolomiti. This milestone was followed by the handover of the 700th unit, also an ATR 72-500, which was delivered to the Indian carrier Simplify Deccan on 8 September 2006.

In June 2001, the parent companies EADS and Alenia Aeronautica unified their regional aircraft operations under the ATR consortium. By October 2003, ATR had become one of the earliest manufacturers to receive certification under the ISO 9001-2000 and EN/AS/JISQ 9100 aeronautical quality standards. In July 2004, ATR collaborated with Brazilian firm Embraer through the AEROChain Portal to improve customer service capabilities. The company introduced its 'Door-2-Door' service in April 2009 as part of its expanded customer support offerings.

CEO Stéphane Mayer announced on 2 October 2007 the introduction of the −600 series, encompassing the ATR 42–600 and ATR 72–600 models. These featured upgraded PW127M engines, a modern glass cockpit, and various improvements designed to boost efficiency, enhance reliability, and reduce both fuel consumption and operational expenses. The first flight of the ATR 42–600 prototype occurred on 4 March 2010, registered as F-WWLY for testing purposes.

2010s

The delivery of the 900th aircraft, an ATR 72-500, took place on 10 September 2010 to Brazilian airline TRIP Linhas Aéreas. The initial ATR 72-600 was handed over to Royal Air Maroc in 2011. Spain’s Air Nostrum received the milestone 1,000th aircraft on May 3, 2012. On 15 June 2015, Japan Air Commuter placed an order for ATR’s 1,500th aircraft.

A significant agreement was secured on 1 February 2016 when Iran Air ordered 40 ATR 72-600s. The delivery of the 1,300th ATR—an ATR 72-600—to NAC for Ireland’s Stobart Air occurred on 14 June 2016. That same year saw the introduction of the first High Capacity (78-seat) ATR 72-600 to Cebu Pacific. In October, Christian Scherer assumed the role of CEO.

ATR commemorated its 35th year in business in 2017. On February 1st, together with Sweden's BRA, it operated the inaugural biofuel-powered flight for an ATR aircraft. In August, US regional airline Silver Airways signed a letter of intent for up to fifty ATR 42s, marking ATR’s re-entry into the United States market after a hiatus since 1997. Production was scaled back to approximately eighty deliveries per year starting in 2017, with a backlog nearing three years following a November order from FedEx Express. That year concluded with ATR securing one hundred thirteen firm orders and delivering eighty aircraft: seventy ATR 72-600s, eight ATR 42-600s, and two pre-owned models.

By April 2018, the global fleet operated more than five thousand flights daily and had accumulated thirty million flight hours. Leonardo reached a milestone in June by delivering the fuselage for the fifteenth hundredth ATR; nearly seventeen hundred units had been ordered overall. Since the start of the decade, ATR maintained leadership in the turboprop regional airliner segment with a seventy-five percent market share. Its aircraft were active in almost one hundred countries across more than two hundred airlines, completing over thirty million flights—equivalent to one takeoff or landing every eight seconds.

On September 13th, Scherer departed as CEO to take up the position of Airbus Chief Commercial Officer; he was replaced by Stefano Bortoli, who served as president of ATR’s board and senior vice-president for strategy and marketing at Leonardo Aircraft. By late October, the landmark fifteenth hundredth ATR—an ATR 72-600—was delivered to Japan Air Commuter, complementing nearly five hundred ATR 42s and over one thousand ATR 72s distributed worldwide.

Throughout 2018, ATR maintained a steady production pace with seventy-six aircraft delivered. The company adhered to a cautious development strategy prioritizing gradual improvements over radical innovation, incorporating advanced technologies such as Elbit Systems’ ClearVision wearable enhanced vision system.

2020s

In May 2022, ATR initiated the development of an Evo hybrid-electric version, aiming for a launch in 2023 and entry into service before 2030. This variant integrates an enhanced turboprop engine fueled by SAF with mild hybrid assistance during takeoff and climb phases to achieve a 20% reduction in fuel consumption. Planned upgrades feature an eight-blade propeller, a thermal de-icing mechanism replacing traditional pneumatic boots, a unified lever FADEC managing both engine and propeller, as well as aerodynamic improvements including refined nacelle-wing junctions. Additionally, the cabin is being redesigned to lower weight through the use of recycled carbon fiber or bio-based resin combined with natural fibers.

On September 17, 2022, Nathalie Tarnaud Laude took over as ATR CEO from Stefano Bortoli. Prior to this role, she served as president of NHIndustries and was Senior VP overseeing the NH90 Programme at Airbus Helicopters. Earlier that year, on June 21, ATR achieved the milestone of flying a regional aircraft powered entirely by SAF for the first time.

On November 13, 2024, ATR declared it would halt development of a new aircraft tailored for operations on very short runways (down to 800 meters), choosing instead to concentrate on its current product lineup. This initiative had started in 2019 with the goal of creating a specialized version of its smallest model optimized for airports with limited runway length.

Products

ATR family specifications

	ATR 42-600	ATR 72-600
Flight crew	2
Seating capacity	48	70
Length	22.67 m (74 ft 5 in)	27.166 m (89 ft 1.5 in)
Wingspan	24.57 m (80 ft 7 in)	27.05 m (88 ft 9 in)
Height	7.59 m (24 ft 11 in)	7.65 m (25 ft 1 in)
Wing surface area	54.5 m2 (587 sq ft)	61 m2 (660 sq ft)
Aspect ratio	11.1	12
Typical empty weight	11,700 kg (25,800 lb)	13,500 kg (29,800 lb)
MTOW	18,600 kg (41,000 lb)	23,000 kg (51,000 lb)
Maximum payload	5,300 kg (11,700 lb)	7,500 kg (16,500 lb)
Fuel capacity	4,500 kg (9,900 lb)	5,000 kg (11,000 lb)
Engines (×2)	Pratt & Whitney Canada PW127M
Power output	2,160 shp (1,610 kW)	2,475 shp (1,846 kW)
Cruise speed	300 kn (560 km/h; 350 mph)	275 kn (509 km/h; 316 mph)
Maximum passenger range	716 min (43,000 s)	825 min (49,500 s)

Proposed aircraft

ATR 52

A proposed 50-seat airliner developed alongside the military-oriented ATR 52C variant.

ATR 52C

Military adaptation of the ATR 72-100 featuring a rear ramp cargo door and reinforced flooring.

ATR 82

During the mid-1980s, ATR investigated an 86-seat turboprop derivative of the ATR 72 equipped with engines like the Allison AE2100 or Lycoming LP512. The project was discontinued following the establishment of Aero International (Regional) in 1996.

ATR 92

Unveiled at the 1988 Farnborough Air Show, this design envisioned a 95–105 seat airliner capable of cruising at 400 knots powered by turbofan, high-speed turboprop, or unducted fan propulsion.

ATR stretch

In response to the Bombardier Q400X announced in 2007, ATR explored a stretched model seating between 90 and 99 passengers, which later influenced the development of the -900 series. By 2011, a proposal for a 90-seat aircraft was presented to shareholders alongside consideration of an entirely new design planned for launch around 2017.

By 2017, estimates suggested that launching a new 90-seat aircraft to satisfy anticipated demand of approximately 2,000–2,500 units over two decades would exceed $5 billion in costs. The main objectives included achieving at least a 30% improvement in fuel efficiency and keeping unit prices within the low-to-mid $20 million range to remain competitive against small jets. Leonardo advocated for a clean-sheet design featuring new turboprops and systems to enable near-term availability, while Airbus preferred introducing hybrid-electric engines and advanced materials over a medium-term horizon.

In January 2018, Leonardo decided to abandon plans for developing a new 100-seat turboprop model and instead focused on enhancing current ATR 42 and ATR 72 variants that dominate approximately three-quarters of the turboprop market share.