By Rebecca Rayko, Editor
Le BOURGET - ATR announced that for the first time its ATR-72 turboprop will be modified for cargo operations.
Launching the venture with ATR is France's Aeropostale, which will use the converted ATR 72-200s to carry postal freight. Today at Le Bourget the company announced orders for four used ATR-72s for use on the French air mail network.
Two were acquired from a Taiwan-based carrier and the other two were purchased for cash directly from ATR. No value was assigned to the aircraft sale.
Aeropostale will be responsible for the actual conversion of the passenger-configured ATR-72s to cargo, said ATR chief executive Antoine Bouvier. This process is expected to be both cost effective and extremely easy, Bouvier said, because the original ATR design is ideal for cargo operations.
"The ATR already has a large door, low direct operating costs, a wide cross-section and high dispatch reliability," Bouvier said, making them well-suited for the cargo market.
"This order confirms the interest in operators in the cargo ATR-72 version, with its seven metric ton cargo capacity, and it opens a market application for used ATR-72s," he added.
ATR estimates this potential market over the short term at 50 used aircraft in the cargo version. It also allows for the sale of new-generation ATR-72-500s to those operators who fly older models.
A market for the new freighter models exists in both Europe and North America, especially since the ATR-72 can be fitted with a 116-inch cargo door, allowing the loading of LD3 containers and pallets that commonly used on larger widebody jets.
The smaller ATR-42 will be very easily tranformed to cargo operations, he predicted.
With used ATR-72s a scarce commodity, Bouvier sees this new market niche as a lucrative opportunity for the company. The ATR used aircraft portfolio has already seen much activity this year, with 25 aircraft being placed.
"We are well on the way to our target of managing our used aircraft activity as a separate business unit," Bouvier said.
The ATR-72 order is part of an Aeropostale strategy to update its fleet, currently comprised of Fokker F27s that have been operated for almost 30 years by the French postal service.
