New Regional Turboprop Set To Enter Flight Testing
ATR officially presented the first aircraft of its new '-600'
series Thursday. The aircraft, an ATR 72-600 prototype, was
unveiled during a ceremony, which took place in Toulouse, under the
patronage of Dominique Bussereau, Secretary of State for Transport,
represented by Patrick Gandil, General Director of French Civil
Aviation.
Launched in October 2007, the new '-600' series follows its
development phase according to the schedule planned for the two
models, the ATR 72-600 and the ATR 42-600, of which the first
commercial aircraft will enter into service in 2011. To date, ATR
has recorded orders for 59 of these aircraft (5 ATR 42-600 and 54
ATR 72-600).
The ATR 72-600 presented Thursday, which started its flight test
campaign in July 2009, is fitted with new Pratt & Whitney 127M
engines, which provide 5% additional thermodynamic power at
takeoff, improving performance on short runways, in hot weather and
on high altitude. The incorporation of the "boost function" enables
use of this additional power as needed, only when called for by the
takeoff conditions. Consequently, maintenance costs and fuel
consumption are minimized. In addition, these new engines allow the
aircraft to increase the single engine altitude by 1000 feet.
This first ATR 72-600 is also the first to be fitted with the
latest avionics suite, specifically developed for the '-600'
series. These new avionics represent the latest navigation, flight
data recording, autopilot, and communications systems for a better
flight interface. The new cockpit, which integrates 5 LCD screens,
is also fitted with a new multi-purpose computer (MPC) enabling
optimized integration of all systems and better and faster
computing capability. This new MPC will also facilitate aircraft
maintenance operations. The ATR 72-600 avionics integrate an
autopilot which will be CAT IIIA certified. This will allow a
minimum decision height for landing of 50 feet (15 meters), thus
optimizing aircraft operational capabilities during landing under
deteriorated weather conditions. Additionally, the new ATR '-600'
avionics improve the required navigation performance (RNP),
facilitating more direct approaches to airports offering an even
greater reduction in fuel consumption. Finally, it enables
simplification and increased reliability of the cockpit systems,
significantly reducing their maintenance costs.
"We are very proud and very happy to present our first ATR
72-600 today. The new '-600' series has been designed to improve
the performance of our aircraft in terms of fuel consumption and
engine power, maximum takeoff load and reduction of maintenance
costs" declared Stéphane Mayer, Chief Executive Officer of
ATR, during the presentation of the first ATR 72-600. "The
improvements to our new '-600' series are written into our
continuous development philosophy in order to optimally respond to
the needs of our customers, whether in terms of reliability,
control of operation costs as well as passenger service and
comfort."
"We are convinced that the ATR '-600' series, which also
presents the lowest CO2 emissions per passenger, will become the
standard in regional air transport, thus responding to the
expectations of airlines in terms of competiveness and respect for
the environment," Mayer added.
The ATR 72-600 and the ATR 42-600 will carry out respectively
150 and 75 flight hours respectively to test their new equipment
before their certification. The common trunk between the ATR 72 and
the ATR 42 will enable the ATR 42-600, which will commence its
flight test campaign next year, to benefit from certain tests
completed by the ATR 72-600.