Page 32 - AAA MAY - JUNE 2018 Online Magazine

STAYING

AHEAD OF

THE GAME

ATR is focussing on new cabin
additions to its regional transport
aircraft family

Atul Chandra

vions de Transport Regional (ATR) Phitek, Cabinstream allows passengers access to a variety of
headquartered in Toulouse contin- multimedia content on their personal electronic devices, such
ues to maintain its leadership of the as newspapers, music, films, TV series and even downloadable
Aturboprop regional transport aircraft travel guides. Cabinstream is now available as an option on all
(RTA) market, having accumulated close to new ATRs and the simple IFE box solution is easy to install and
1,700 orders. ATR has presently completed retrofittable on existing aircraft. “Cabinstream enhances the
delivery of over 1,400 airplanes and had deliv- in-flight experience by delivering rich content to passengers
ered its 1000th aircraft in 2012. It has been a whilst opening up new advertising revenue possibilities for oper-
very good run for the Franco-Italian consor- ators,” says Chris van der Loo, Director of Marketing at Phitek.
tium since its first regional transport aircraft No electrical or mechanical connections are necessary and the
entered service with Finnair in October 1989 IFE box can be installed or removed as required. Cabinstream
and ATR is approaching its 30th anniversary is also eco-friendly as it saves the almost 100kg of newspapers
with a solid three year order backlog. One half used over the course of a day’s operations by some operators.
of ATR’s order backlog comes from the Asia
Pacific region and its aircraft are now oper-
ated by 200 airlines in nearly 100 countries Gabonese carrier Afrijet is the launch operator for
around the world. Since 2010 approximately ATRs Cabinstream, wireless In-Flight Entertainment
75 percent of all orders for turboprop RTAs, (IFE) solution, which will be installed on its fleet
have come ATRs way. before the end of the year.

Cabin Upgrades
ATR is now focussing on cabin upgrades for
its ATR 72s and ATR 42s. In April, the air-
framer announced Gabon based Afrijet as
the launch operator for its new Cabinstream,
wireless In-Flight Entertainment (IFE) solu-
tion. Afrijet operates a fleet of five ATR (3 ATR
72-500, 2 ATR 42-500) and will offer the new
streaming system on its fleet before the end
of the year. Developed by New Zealand based

32 | May/June 2018 www.GBP.com.sg/AAA