More than 30 years after the birth of the ATR 72 series, there have been more than ten crashes. Currently, the Chinese mainland does not operate this model.
Text | GUO Yu
Edit the | Wang Jingyi
On Jan. 15, a passenger plane carrying 72 people on board Yeti Airlines crashed inside Nepal, killing at least 68 people. According to media reports at noon on the 16th, rescuers are still looking for the remaining 4 people whose whereabouts are unknown.
The crashed plane flying from Nepal's capital, Kathmandu, to Pokhara was reportedly ATR 72-500 and carried 68 passengers and 4 crew members. Of these, 57 are Nepalese, 5 Indians, 4 Russians, 2 Koreans, and 1 each from Argentina, Ireland, Australia and France, without Chinese citizens.
In addition to the accident itself, issues such as who ATR is, which countries and regions ATR 72 series models are sold to, whether there have been accidents before, and whether China has this model are also of concern.
Q1 Who is ATR?
Aircraft manufacturer ATR is a joint venture between two European aviation companies, Airbus of France and Leonardo of Italy, headquartered at Bragnac Airport in Toulouse, France, focusing on the production of regional passenger aircraft.
Regional jets usually have fewer than 100 seats and fly within an hour. The flight time of this crashed flight route is about 30 minutes.
ATR remained essentially the third largest regional aviation manufacturer market share. The number of regional aircraft in service worldwide is between 6,000 and 7,000, with Bombardier and Embraer accounting for more than half of the market. Bombardier's best-selling regional models are mainly CRJ 700, CRJ 900, CRJ 100/200, and Embraer's best-selling models are mainly E175, E190, DHC-8, DHC-6; The ATR is mainly the ATR 72 series.
ATR currently manufactures four models in the ATR 42 series (30 to 50 seats) and ATR 72 (44 to 78 seats), including a freighter ATR 72-600F.
To date, ATR has delivered more than 1,800 aircraft and sold them to more than 200 airlines in more than 100 countries and regions around the world.
"ATR experts will fully support the investigation." After the accident, ATR 72-500, the manufacturer of ATR, said in a statement on the 15th.
▲ Aircraft manufacturer ATR currently produces models Source: ATR official website
Q2 Is the crashed aircraft safe?
The ATR 72 is a twin-engine turboprop aircraft structurally identical to the ATR 42 series, but with a 4.5-meter longer fuselage, an increased passenger capacity of 72, a larger fuel tank capacity and a longer range. According to ATR's official website, about 90% of the components on the two models are common.
This model is ATR's main sales force, with more than 1,000 units sold. Countries and regions are mainly concentrated in New Zealand, Southeast Asia, Western Europe, the Mediterranean Sea and the Strait of Gibraltar covered by countries and regions.
▲ On January 16, some ATR 72 series aircraft took off from around the world Source: Real-time aviation tracking software FlightAware
On 27 October 1988, the ATR 72 made its maiden flight and on 25 September 1989 it received an air certification from the French Civil Aviation Authority for commercial service, and Finnair was the first airline to receive this model.
Since then, ATR has introduced a number of derivatives based on the Type 72, such as the early ATR 72-200 with a 4-bladed propeller, and the later ATR 72-500 and ATR 72-600 with a 6-bladed propeller. It should be noted that the ATR 72-500 model that crashed was certified in January 1997 and has been discontinued.
According to incomplete statistics from Travel One Passenger (ID: caicaijing), more than ten crashes have occurred in the more than three decades since the birth of the ATR 72 series, involving the United States, Taiwan, Thailand, Laos and other places.
The first crash occurred in 1994, when an American Eagle ATR 72 crashed in Indiana due to ice accumulation on October 31 of that year, killing 68 people on board.
Of the more than a dozen ATR 72 series crashes, four have occurred at TransAsia Airlines in Taiwan.
On February 4, 2015, an ATR 72-600 of TransAsia Airlines crashed, killing 43 people and injuring 17; On July 23, 2014, an ATR 72-500 of China Renaissance Airlines crashed into Xixi Village, Penghu County, killing 49 people and injuring 9 people on the ground.
Earlier, on December 21, 2002, an ATR72-202 cargo plane of China Renaissance Airlines crashed into the sea, killing a total of 2 crew members; On January 30, 1995, an ATR 72-200 of China TransAsia Airlines crashed. As there were no passengers on the empty plane, four crew members, including the chief and co-pilot and flight attendants, were killed.
After frequent safety incidents, are ATR 72 series aircraft still safe? Different industry insiders have different opinions.
Some insiders pointed out that the ATR series aircraft models are relatively old, such as ART 72 in 1989 to obtain airworthiness certificate, the standards and cognitive level of certification in that era may be the minimum standard now, can not guarantee that the aircraft must be free of defects after entering the market.
It is also believed that each air crash has its own characteristics, and although the accident rate of the aircraft involved in the past has reference value, it cannot be simply attributed to the safety of the aircraft.
Traveling One (ID: caicaijing) learned from Nepal Snowman Air's official website that together with the crashed aircraft, the company has a total of 6 ATR72-500 aircraft.
Recently, ATR delivered the new ATR 72 series models. On 23 December 2022, ATR delivered its first ATR 72-600 aircraft to the national airline of Maldives. Established in 2000, Maldives National Airlines currently operates inter-island and international flights and, in addition to one ATR 72, its fleet includes one A320, two Dash-8 Q200, eight Dash-8 Q300 and 11 DHC-6-300 twin otter aircraft.
Q3 Is there a model involved in China?
Currently, there are no ATR 72 series models in operation in Chinese mainland.
China Southern Airlines Xinjiang used to own five ATR 72 series aircraft, but they were grounded in 2011 for unknown reasons.
But soon, Chinese mainland may usher in the ATR 42-600 model.
ATR revealed during the November 2022 Zhuhai Airshow that the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) has issued a type approval certificate for ATR's ATR 42-600 aircraft, and also revealed that it has secured firm orders for three aircraft from Chinese customers. This provides ATR with the opportunity to re-enter the Chinese market.
The development of regional aviation can bring many benefits. It can make connections between small cities and large cities faster, complement the high-speed rail network, and promote the flow of people and resources in the region. At present, China's route network is still mainly between large cities. Studies have shown a 10% increase in regional flights, a 5% increase in local tourism, a 6% increase in regional GDP and an 8% increase in foreign direct investment.
ATR expects a large market for turboprop airliners with more than 30 seats, expected to increase from 1,950 in 2022 to 2,660 in 2041. The largest increases are expected in Asia Pacific and Latin America. The expansion of air cargo has also been a driver of its demand growth, which is expected to increase from 380 in 2021 to 550 in 2041.
In addition to Embraer, Bombardier and ATR, China's regional jets have launched the Xinzhou 60 developed by AVIC and the ARJ21 developed by COMAC. Among them, the ARJ21 has received more than 600 orders and 100 have been delivered.
However, the development of regional aviation still faces some difficulties. According to Wang Changshun, chairman of the China Air Transport Association, how to achieve sustainable development of regional airlines is a common problem faced by all countries in the world due to its low average daily passenger flow and high unit cost.
Regarding how to further help regional aviation operations and form a good pattern of mutual development between regional aviation and domestic aircraft, Wang Changshun suggested that the first is to improve the subsidy standards for regional aviation operations, the second is to expand the scope of subsidies, and the third is to further improve the policy support system for the development of the aircraft industry.
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Editor-in-charge | Wang Jingyi