ATR reveals record turnover despite global turndown

At an event in Paris, ATR – a Franco-Italian joint venture – reported a turnover record of US $ 1.4 billion in 2009 (2008: US $ 1.3 billion), and delivered 54 aircraft (2008: 55), thus consolidating   its delivery target   rate of more than 50 aircraft per year.

ATR said it had received orders for 40 new aircraft plus 17 options in 2009 (2008: 42 new aircraft plus 14 options), thus reaching 1,000th aircraft sold since the beginning of the programme. It also confirmed the ATR ‘-600 series’ development programme 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”, said Stéphane Mayer, ATR chief executive. “The consolidation of our delivery rate over 50 aircraft a year, which is an 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 providing them with high-quality support services represents a key point of our strategy.”.

Mayer said  2010 will be another difficult year, but said: “ Even if the current crisis has slightly delayed some initial goals, we are ready to continue our strong progression once the economy recovers”.

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.