French airline Air Caraïbes received delivery of its first ATR 72-600 on 14 December, 2016. The aircraft, delivered in Toulouse, is a part of an order for three ATR 72-600s, placed in 2014 and delivery of that it will continue till 2019.
The brand new 74-seater ATR 72-600s have 4 more seats than the recent ATR 72-500s in operation, permitting the company to increase its ability throughout its regional network. Thus far, Air Caraïbes operates its ATR aircraft on numerous connections among Pointe-à-Pitre, Fort-de-France, Saint-Martin, and Saint-Lucia, also longer routes to Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic).
ATR turboprops, with their exquisite overall performance on short runways, are a reference for inter-island operations globally. An ATR 72 can take off at maximum payload on runways much less than 1,200 meters long, a shorter distance than the ones required by jet aircraft. Thanks to this operational gain, ATRs are operated by means of several companies offering this type of route within the Caribbean, Polynesia, New Caledonia, Mayotte, Reunion, the Philippines, Indonesia, the Canary Islands, Fiji, the Maldives and Vanuatu.
Ready with PW127M engines, the ATR 72-600 also boasts the lowest fuel consumption per seat in its class (2.6 L/100 km). This makes it feasible to save up to 5,000 tons of CO2 per year as compared to a regional jet of equivalent size. In the end, the ATR 72-600 has a dispatch reliability of 99.7%, therefore offering very excessive operational readiness to its operators.
Commenting on the delivery of their primary ATR 72-600, Marc Rochet, CEO of Air Caraïbes, comments: “We have been using ATRs for over fifteen years and are very satisfied with their operating results. ATRs are an essential part of our fleet and our business strategy, and we are delighted to offer the most modern and comfortable version to our passengers.”
Christian Scherer, ATR’s CEO, said: “To have a highly professional airline such as Air Caraïbes endorse ATR’s superior economics, comfort and reliability is a great testimony. It confirms we are the supplier of choice in an area of the world that relies heavily on regional turboprop aircraft.”
