ATR 72

The ATR 72 is a twin-engine turboprop short-haul regional airliner manufactured by the French-Italian aircraft manufacturer ATR. It was developed as a stretched variant of the ATR 42, and entered service in 1989. It has been typically employed as a regional airliner, although other roles have been performed by the type such as corporate transport, cargo aircraft and maritime patrol aircraft. Successive models of the ATR 72 have been introduced, a single aircraft can seat up to 78 passengers in a single-class configuration.

Development

The ATR 72 was developed from the ATR 42 in order to increase the seating capacity (48 to 68) by stretching the fuselage by 4.5 metres (15 ft), increasing the wingspan, adding more powerful engines, and increasing fuel capacity by approximately 10 percent. The 72 was announced in 1986, made its maiden flight on 27 October 1988 and Finnair became the first airline to put the aircraft into service on 27 October 1989.

At the end of 2014, ATR had received 1000 orders for the type and delivered 754, leaving a backlog of 246 aircraft. Since 2008, ATR has been a participant in the European Clean Sky Joint Technology Initiative and on 8 July 2015 a “green” ATR 72-600 flying technology demonstrator made its first flight; it is to be used to trial new composite insulating materials, electrical distribution system and energy dispersal modifications, and air conditioning systems to evaluate their effect on overall efficiency.