Testing turboprop resilience

摘要

Not all aircraft are made equal - that's the main message from Zuzana Hrnkova, vice president of marketing at ATR, as the Franco-Italian manufacturer navigates one of the most turbulent periods in aviation history. While the notion of airline bosses matching the right equipment to the mission is nothing new, Hrnkova argues that the ATR family of turboprops - the 42-600, 42-600S, 72-600 and 72-600F - is better positioned than most to help carriers brave the storm, Speaking exclusively to AIR International, she shared research findings that suggest the turboprop sector as a whole has fared better than the industry average for maintaining ASKs (that's the total number of available seat kilometres between all airlines) during the traditional summer peak period. Drilling down a little deeper into the global data, sourced via industry analysts OAG, showed that routes operated by ATR models experienced a delayed decrease in ASK, a shallower decline and a faster recovery from the painful nadir of late March and early April.