In the same month as it celebrated its 40 year anniversary, ATR has reached another impressive milestone in its history, delivering its 1,600th aircraft to national flag carrier, Air New Zealand. This delivery highlights the enduring strength of the ATR programme, providing essential connectivity to communities all over the world. It also proves the value of the ATR 72-600 at serving domestic routes in New Zealand as it is the last of 29 aircraft ordered.
While ties between the two companies initially began some 25 years ago with the delivery of first generation ATRs, this last decade has seen the forging of closer ties, with the delivery of the 29 -600 aircraft and through an important collaboration that enhanced the aircraft’s approach capabilities.
Air New Zealand’s Chief Executive Greg Foran says the airline is looking forward to welcoming ATR’s 1600th aircraft into its fleet. “We really value our longstanding relationship with ATR and this will be the 29th to join our fleet since 2012. During that time the fleet of ATRs have boosted the airline’s regional network by over 50 per cent and they have proven extremely efficient. Our ATRs have helped us build one of the best domestic networks in the world and have flown an estimated 33.5 million passengers on more than 636,000 flights around New Zealand.”
