Air traffic in the Asia-Pacific region has recovered more slowly from Covid-19 than that in most other parts of the world, but ATR and De Havilland Aircraft of Canada remain upbeat on their position in the region, where some 500 ATR 42/ 72s—37 percent of the worldwide in-service ATR fleet—and close to 250 Dash 8s operate, respectively.

“I am quite optimistic,” ATR head of sales for the Asia Pacific region Jean-Pierre Clercin told AIN in an interview ahead of the Singapore Airshow. “The past two years have been difficult for the industry but, overall, our market has proven to be resilient owing to its domestic and community serving nature,” he said. Aviation recovery from the Covid-19 has taken a different trajectory for domestic and international capacity, particularly in Asia-Pacific, where domestic capacity has recovered faster.

“Our customers did not have to deal with restrictions on cross-border travel,” Clercin noted. Up to 85 percent of ATR operations serve domestic routes and 40 percent of ATR operators fly essential services, such as carrying food, health care workers, and medication—including Covid-19 vaccines—to remote or isolated locations and between islands. 

Moreover, Clercin said he believes the Covid-19 downturn has created new opportunities for the Franco-Italian turboprop manufacturer.  For instance, in Nepal, ATR observed a transfer from ground mobility to air mobility as people preferred to sit one hour in a controlled environment on an airplane than sitting seven hours on a bus. In New Zealand, which effectively closed its borders, passengers spent their disposable income on travel within the country. In both countries, the utilization rate of the ATR fleets has exceeded pre-Covid levels, according to Clercin.  New behavioral trends, such as homeworking and the booming of e-commerce, have emerged from the pandemic and will drive up demand for regional passenger and cargo aircraft, he added. Owing to its versatility and operational frugality, the European OEM’s twin-engine turboprops are ideally suited to the changing landscape of regional mobility, he asserted. “And we keep improving the platform to bring even more operational resilience and further lower operating costs for airlines,” Clercin stressed, citing the aircraft’s engine upgrade as the latest illustration of the company’s strategy of delivering continuous development of the aircraft, “which had a very smart design from the beginning.”

At November’s Dubai Airshow, ATR revealed it will re-engine the 42- and 72-600 family with a new update of the Pratt & Whitney Canada PW127 powerplant. The new PW127XT engines, which will become available this summer, allow a 20 percent reduction in maintenance costs compared with the PW127M and will consume 3 percent less fuel than the M series burns, according to ATR and P&WC.

ATR customers in Asia-Pacific have shown a “strong interest” in the engine upgrade, said Clercin, confirming he also observes a keen interest in the region for the ATR 42-600S short takeoff and landing (STOL) version. “The STOL variant will allow use [of the ATR 42 aircraft] on even shorter runways,” he remarked. Air Tahiti, the domestic airline of French Polynesia, became the first airline to sign for the ATR 42-600S, during the Paris-Le Bourget Airshow in June 2019.  Papua New Guinea’s PNG Air followed a year later with an order for three units, and in November last year ATR inked a letter of intent with Toki Air, a new regional commercial airline in Japan that plans to launch operations this year.

The 42-600S, currently under development, will offer takeoff and landing capabilities on runways as short as 800 meters (2,624 feet)—compared with 1,050 meters (3,445 feet) for a conventional version—with 40 passengers on board in standard flight conditions. Close to 500 airports have runways that extend between 800- and 1,000 meters and could welcome the ATR 42-600S; nearly a third of those runways reside in the Asia-Pacific region. The Covid crisis has disrupted the initial schedule by a few months and the latest plans call for first flight of the ATR 42-600S to take place in 2023 rather than this year. ATR expects first deliveries in the beginning of 2025. The manufacturer has won orders for some 20 ATR 42-600S, including ten from Dublin-based turboprop lessor Elix Aviation Capital.

ATR through last November had recorded orders for 29 aircraft and delivered 16 aircraft, marking a clear improvement on 2020, when it ended the year with net orders for three airplanes and delivered just 10 aircraft.  The Toulouse-based joint venture between Airbus and Leonardo in December delivered its 1,600th aircraft—a 68-seat ATR 72-600—to Air New Zealand. The national carrier participated in the development of the RNP AR 0.3/0.3 approach technology on the ATR aircraft. 

In January, ATR signed its first order of the new year with the national airline of the Maldives, Maldivian. It plans to deliver two ATR 72-600s and one ATR 42-600 equipped with PW127XT engines to the South Asian airline later this year. 

ATRs operate in almost all Asia-Pacific countries, with the notable exception of mainland China. The European airframer sees a lot of scope for growth in the country, mainly for 30-seat turboprops to serve the country’s general aviation segment and the 50-seat turboprops to connect regional airports. ATR expected ATR 42-600 type certification validation in China in autumn 2020 but it continues to wait for the Civil Aviation Administration of China to sign off on the permits. “Discussions are ongoing,” noted Clercin.

Over the last decade (2011-2020), ATR accounted for 76 percent of firm orders in the 50- to 90-seat turboprop market, while the DHC Q400 held a 24 percent share. 

DHC Ambitions to Diversify the Dash 8’s Mission

The Q400’s new owner, De Havilland Aircraft of Canada (DHC), intends to defend its market position, even though production of new Dash 8-400s remains paused as the company continues its search for a new location to build the turboprops following the closure in mid-2021 of its assembly line in Downsview, Ontario. DHC’s parent company, Longview Aviation Capital, acquired the rights to the entire Dash 8 program, including the 100, 200, and 300 series and the 70- to 90-seat Q400 program from Bombardier in 2019. 

DHC’s global support apparatus remains active and not least in the Asia-Pacific market, where the Dash 8 family already projects a strong presence overall, DHC vice president of sales and marketing Philippe Poutissou told AIN. Over time, DHC intends to expand that presence with “new, used, retrofit, and modifications” solutions for civil, military, and governmental operators’ differing operational requirements.

“Despite the pandemic, we have seen the Dash 8 fleet grow in several Asia-Pacific countries over the past 12 months—in Nepal, Bangladesh, India, Papua New Guinea, and Australia,” said Poutissou. “We have also been working with operators in several other Asia-Pacific markets that are seeking to introduce Dash 8 aircraft.”

While the current-generation Dash 8-400 “has predominantly been used as a passenger airliner,” the Dash 8-400 and previous Dash 8 models have become the favored platforms for special mission operations—as evidenced by the many Dash 8-300s and Dash 8-200s operating globally in many non-airline roles, said Poutissou. “The Dash 8-400 is also an extremely capable platform for these roles and we are actively growing this market opportunity,” he added.

For instance, DHC specifically is targeting Asia-Pacific military operators with the Dash 8-400 P4 variant under development with PAL Aerospace. The Dash 8 P4 would “provide greater performance and payloads for ISR and maritime patrol missions and is ideally suited to many existing and emerging requirements in the Asia-Pacific market,” said Poutissou.

DHC also sees potential Asia-Pacific markets for other Dash 8-400 missionized versions, such as the used aircraft converted into aerial-firefighting air tankers for Conair, and the Dash 8-400 MRE, which offers multiple interior configurations for emergency responses—such as combi, medevac, and full cargo interiors.

“The Dash 8 [family] has also been missionized for very specialized multirole missions including specialized transport; search and rescue; coastal surveillance; fisheries monitoring; environmental assessments; mapping of oil spills; reconnaissance; and operations training,” said Poutissou.

The Dash 8-400 has already won certification to the new ICAO Chapter 14 and FAA stage 5 noise standards, giving DHC confidence in exploiting new Dash 8 opportunities in noise-sensitive airports. Beyond that, DHC sees new Asia-Pacific sales opportunities arising for all Dash 8 models as alternative propulsion technologies mature.

“We expect that the market will start to convert to new propulsion technologies toward the end of the decade, such as the hydrogen-electric and hybrid-electric architectures we are developing with partners ZeroAvia and Pratt & Whitney Canada respectively,” said Poutissou. “Some Dash 8 operators will be in a position to be—and are eager to become—early adopters and we’d like to be able to supply them with retrofit and line-fit solutions,” he said.

Developing Customer Support

Solid support arrangements hold the key to DHC’s future Asia-Pacific-region success. Following its split from Bombardier, DHC has established a dedicated De Havilland Canada Parts Distribution Network with depots in Singapore and Sydney to support the existing Asia-Pacific Dash 8 fleet and expanded its De Havilland Component Solutions program with new customers ANA and Link PNG.

The company has hired additional field service representatives, customer support managers, and sales directors for the region. DHC has also partnered with experienced providers to operate authorized service facilities for Dash 8 MRO in India, China, and Australia, and five training centers with Dash 8 simulators in Hyderabad, Tokyo, Melbourne, Sydney, and Auckland.

ATR also has expanded its customer and aftermarket support in the Asia-Pacific region. In May last year, it strengthened its partnership with Skyways Technics’ Malaysian branch, based in Kuala Lumpur with a new agreement to facilitate the management of repairs of sensitive structural components such as repairs of leading edges, flight controls, and flaps. ATR established regional spare parts distribution centers in Auckland and Singapore, where it also operates a training center—featuring an ATR -600 FFS.