ATR buoyant despite a tough year

ATR has announced at a press conference in Paris this week the stabilization in 2009 of its previous year results, thus reaching its main goals for the year despite the adverse situation of the economy.

 
The turboprop manufacturer achieved new turnover record of US$1.4 billion in 2009 (2008: US$1.3 billion), and delivered 54 aircraft (2008: 55), thus consolidating delivery rate over 50 aircraft per year. 

ATR unveiled also orders for 40 new aircraft plus 17 options in 2009 (2008: 42 new aircraft plus 14 options), thus reaching the 1000th aircraft sold since the beginning of the program. 

It also confirmed the ATR -600 series development program is on track, with the first flight of an ATR 72-600 successfully achieved in 2009.   

“Reaching a new annual turnover record in 2009 is the result of the commitment and the strong efforts done in order to cope with the current adverse global environment,” declared Stéphane Mayer, ATR CEO. “The consolidation of our delivery rate over 50 aircraft a year, which is a historical level for ATR, underlines the ability of our product to keep on interesting both customers and investors... 

"Getting closer to our 150 operators and provide them with high-quality support services represents a key point of our strategy. This is why in 2009 we further expanded our support network worldwide, with the opening of a new logistic support center in Kuala Lumpur and we inked five additional global maintenance agreements.”

Stéphane Mayer concluded: “2010 will be another difficult year, but despite today’s environment, we focus on stabilizing the good results of 2009, in terms of orders, deliveries and turnover. Our growth in the last years is due to long-term reasons. Even if the current crisis has slightly delayed some initial goals, we are ready to continue our strong progression once the economy will recover”. 

ATR booked orders for 40 new aircraft and options for 17 aircraft in 2009. Europe and Asia, each with orders for 16 aircraft, represented 80 per cent of the total order intakes of the year. 

In addition, 50 per cent of the orders of the year were booked for the newest ATR -600 series aircraft (two ATR 42-600 and 18 ATR 72-600).  

ATR delivered 54 new aircraft in 2009. As of December 31st 2009, ATR delivered a total of 864 aircraft (409 ATR 42s and 455 ATR 72s). 

ATR finished 2009 with a backlog of 136 aircraft, including a total of 59 ATR ‘-600 series’ aircraft. The current backlog represents more than two years of production. 

ATR reached a new record in the annual turnover, with US$1.4 billion. 

ATR continued the reinforcement of its customer support activities and further expanded its presence in Asia with the opening of a new logistic support center in Kuala Lumpur. This new facility enables its operators in the Asia-Pacific region having contracted a Global Maintenance Agreement (GMA) to benefit from increased efficiency and reduced costs. 

In addition, ATR booked in 2009 new GMAs with five operators, covering 41 aircraft. Among these contracts, ATR inked with Spanish carrier Air Nostrum the first GMA for the maintenance of -600 series aircraft. Today, 26 per cent of the ATR aircraft in operation –over 200 aircraft- are covered by GMAs. 

ATR plans to consolidate its deliveries over 50 aircraft during 2010, while waiting to get a better overview on the recovery of the economy in order to continue its delivery ramp up.

The ATR 72-600 will continue its 150 hours flight test campaign in order to obtain its certification. The ATR 42-600 will start in 2010 its 75 hours flight test campaign, and will benefit from certain tests completed by the ATR 72-600. The production of the first commercial ATR ‘-600s’ will start in 2010, for an entry into service, as planned, in 2011. 

And ATR will continue expanding its worldwide support offer in 2010 with the opening of new training facilities, while evaluating further developments of its regional support policy.