ATR42 Breaks Through In Australia

Initially, Aerospatiale and Aeritalia were looking to develop separate aircraft in the 30/50-seat category. When it was also realised that half a dozen other airframe manufacturers were heading rapidly down the same track the two companies wisely decided to combine their efforts in order to eventually be one of the survivors in what is a virtual bloodbath of a civil airliner market category. The agreement to form the ATR consortium was formalised in July of 1980; a little over a year later the ATR42 programme was launched which ultimately led to a first flight in August this year, three weeks ahead of schedule. FM and JAR Certification is planned for September 1985, with the first ATR42s entering commercial service by the end of 1985.

Probably one of the most interesting points that has been consistently obvious to the interested observer is the level of scepticism that has been levelled at the various performance figures claimed for the aircraft by the manufacturer. I must admit that this writer also often found them a trifle optimistic, but now that the first test aircraft is flying the performance figures are proving to be conservative in many cases. The goal of a 21,206 lb operational empty weight has been achieved. Cruise speed at 20,000 ft of 275 has actually been exceeded with 278 kts being their figure achieved, while fuel burn is looking to be around 3% lower than expected. The ATR42 has proven its capability of meeting the 3540 ft objective for takeoff on an ISA day in addition to landing in3150 ft with both at maximum allowable operating weights.

The flight test development programme is to cover 1000 hrs using three aircraft. As mentioned previously, aircraft No 1 first flew on August 16, aircraft No 2 joined the programme in October and No 3 is scheduled for rollout next February. The first two aircraft are configured as flying test beds with direct data link capability. to the extensive Aerospatiale R & D facilities at Toulouse while No3 will be configured as an airliner to accurately measure noise levels, fuel flows and operate on route proving exercises.

At early September 1984 the sales book stood at 37 firm orders and 22 paid options. This figure has since been boosted by the relatively substantial orders of both Alitalia and Air Queensland during October. Additionally, some firm initial orders have fallen through owing to severe economic difficulties experienced by several operators of less substantial backing. On this score all the super commuter manufacturers are well and truly in the same boat!

Though it has gone relatively quiet over the past two years, and for good reason, ATR feel the basic overall long term market outlook for aircraft in the 0/70-seat category is still strong. They foresee a market of 4000 such aircraft, including military derivatives, through to the year 2000. Programme breakeven is stated to be 350 aircraft while overall market share is targeted at 25% with a third of that market being the USA, a fifth Europe and about half the total to the rest of the world. Production will build up to four per month during early 1986 and the maximum which could be achieved would be six a month.

Many non-Europeans tend to feel that technologically Europe trails the USA in the capability for developing aircraft excellence. This view has always been strong in Australia and has only begun to show signs of breaking in recent years. When you visit the Aerospatiale assembly area in Toulouse you begin to realise that Europe has been at the leading edge of technology for quite a while now. Consider the Tornado, Mirage 2000, Harrier, Airbus, Falcon and those excellent pioneers, the Caravelle and Concorde SST. Ironically the ATR42 final assembly line will be in the Concorde hangar.

The interior of the ATR42 is configured in a four-abreast arrangement and typically has a single toilet at the rear of the aircraft and one or two galleys. Both washrooms and galleys are to full airline specification while the forward fuselage section also has space for a baggage compartment. The aircraft can seat 46 passengers at 30-inch pitch, 44 at 31 inch and 42 at the more popular32 inch pitch. Air Queensland have opted for the32 inch arrangement and 42 seats with two cabin attendants. Their aircraft will also be equipped with an APU for ground air conditioning and a full EFIS flight deck. Either analogue or EFIS flight instrument displays are available though ATR feel most airlines will opt for EFIS which actually works out cheaper in the long run. The seats are of a unique French design that really changes your traditional concept of seat pitch. Normally a 30 inch pitch would be considered extremely tight for anybody taller than an elfin. The ATR mock-up configured as a 30 inch arrangement was quite adequate owing purely to the ‘thin line’ seats that are being fitted to these new short-haul aircraft.

Technically the ATR is superb. Much has been written on the new Pratt & Whitney PW120 series turboprop so we won’t recap that here except to say that this engine will be the benchmark by which to compare all future civil turboprops in the decades to come. Indeed a worthy successor to the venerable PT6. The PW120s each deliver 180 shp at takeoff and drive four-bladed composite Hamilton Standard propellors. The aircraft is extremely quiet for a large turboprop and should be a welcome change from the F27, which despite its technical excellence, is a very noisy aircraft in which to travel. Fuel efficiency and low maintenance costs are high on the ATR checklist with the consortium claiming a 200 nm sector (no ATC delays en route) can be flown burning only 1000 lb of avtur. Based on this the consortium are claiming direct seat per mile cost savings in the region of 30% when compared with old-generation aircraft such as the BAe 748 and Fokker F27 and around 10% when compared with the rival supercomputers. Manufacturers’ cost analysis figures, when dealt with in broad terms in a glossy brochure, are often subject to argument, though with the ATR you can’t escape the fact that basically, it offers the greatest number of seats per pound of weight while operating with engines that give it excellent performance that is not attained by some of the smaller aircraft.

One of the reasons Fokker have sold so many F27s over the past three decades is that they continued to develop larger versions of the same basic:: design. This way an operator could backtrade his early model 40-seaters for the latest Mk 500 with 48/50 seats and ever-improving fuel efficiency. Following on this formula for long-term success ATR are planning already on a stretched version of the current aircraft. Modifications would be minimal as the design initially was conceived with this growth in mind. Basically, a two stage fuselage stretch would allow an additional three seat rows while the wing will be increased in surface area by about 10%. Additional use of composites and perhaps the new aluminium-lithium would ensure that empty operational weight remained not that much heavier than the current aircraft. Obviously with around $A350 million invested in the current programme, ATR are keen to see the production standard-fuselage aircraft leaving the plant before embarking on another development effort, though in view of recent orders ATR feel they will be ready for an official launch of the ‘ST’ some time in late 1985 or early 1986. This then would see customer deliveries taking place by 1989. The ST would seat up to 62 passengers at 30 inch pitch and 56 at 32 inch depending upon interior layout.

Obviously this was a factor in Air Queensland opting for the ATR42. Having a larger development of the basic aircraft in the pipeline is always of line interest. Queensland is an agrowthState and no doubt its native airline intends to grow accordingly. Ten years from now AQ could operate a mixed fleet of 42- and 56-seat ATR aircraft which would save the airline buying into a different type and incurring all the additional expenses involved in a large fleet mix.

Either way you look at it the ATR42 looks set for a solid future Down Under.