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ATR bagged 165 orders and delivered 154 aircraft. The airframer
presently has an order backlog for almost three years of production
with its ATR -600s continuing to be the preferred choice of opera-
tors and lessors. ATR has forecast that the more than 3,000 new
aircraft will be required by the global turboprop market before the
end of 2037. ATR aircraft are also being used by their operators
to create new routes and now serve 1,346 airports worldwide (56
more than in 2017).

The airframer also notched up major milestones in 2018 with the
delivery of its 1,500th ATR aircraft and also delivering the 1,000th
ATR 72 in addition to the 500th -600 series aircraft. Despite the
airplanes are needed in the regional transport good times with the ATR family, the company has continued to
aircraft category over the next 20 years as add new innovations and 2018 was the year for several, such as
existing aircraft age and begin to retire in the
United States and as regional connectivity con-
tinues to grow globally.

As the programme pivots away from being pre-
sented as a home-grown Japanese jetliner, to
one that is more focussed on market prospects
in the USA, Mitsubishi has opened a new U.S.
headquarters, located in Renton, Washington.
Alex Bellamy, Chief Development Officer of
Mitsubishi Aircraft Corporation, delivered
remarks at the headquarters’ opening event in
which he highlighted the alignment between
market trends and the company’s investment in
North America. “Demand in the North American
regional segment is expected to grow beyond
the more than 1,800 aircraft currently in ser-
vice,” said Bellamy. “It is strategically important the new 18-inch wide “Neo-Classic” and “Neo-Prestige” seats,
for us to be close to our customers and support which are now standard on all new ATRs (since July 2018) and
that market demand.” the introduction of the optional Cabinstream standalone wireless
In-Flight Entertainment (IFE) system. Cabinstream allows operators
North America also presents the greatest the option of introducing wireless connectivity into the ATR cabin,
opportunity in the regional segment of the allowing passengers to access a variety of multimedia content on
market, as over 50 percent of the world’s their personal electronic devices.
regional jets are in service in the United States
alone. More than 900 sub-100 seat jets are to New extended maintenance intervals for ATR aircraft have also
be retired by 2027 and this provides a major been well received by operators as ATR has obtained EASA certi-
opportunity for regional jets and Mitsubishi is fication to extend the intervals between the Type A maintenance
hopeful that the MRJ will emerge as the pre- checks from 500 to 750 hours, for all of its aircraft series. This is
ferred regional jet in this market. While the an increase of 1.5 months of flying time to up to 4.5 months from
MRJ90 and MRJ70 are both also positioned
to serve global demand; the MRJ70 has the
additional virtue of being the only clean-sheet
regional jet that meets current U.S. scope
clause restrictions.

Top of the Heap
The hardships faced by the other regional
aircraft contenders have left Franco-Italian
regional turboprop aircraft manufacturer, ATR,
alone at the top of the heap, with an approx-
imately 2/3rds share of turboprop orders for
2018. ATR finished 2018 with an annual turn-
over at US$ 1.8 billion. Between 2017 and 2018,

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