Please click on photo for full view and caption.
Aurigny Air Services (Guernsey) on March 6 took delivery of its first (of two) ATR 72-500 (ATR 72-212A). G-COBO (msn 852) repositioned from Toulouse to Southampton. In other news, Aurigny will start Guernsey-East Midlands service on May 1.
F-WWEC is tugged at TLS. The new airliner is painted in the new livery that was introduced earlier this year. Copyright Photo: Yannick Delamarre.
Berjaya Air (Kuala Lumpur) will soon take delivery of its first new ATR 72-500 (ATR 72-212A). Three more copies will follow. The four new turboprops will replace the older de Havilland Canada (Bombardier) DHC-7 Dash 7s on its local routes in Malaysia. The first aircraft (F-WWEC, msn 858) has been painted at the Toulouse factory and will become 9M-TAG on delivery.
Air Botswana (Gaborone) on March 20 accepted delivery of its first (of two) ATR 72-500 (ATR 72-212A) registered A2-ABR (msn 786, ex F-WWEE). The new ATR joins three current ATR 42-500s.
EC-KGJ taxies at Madeira for the formal naming ceremony. Copyright Photo: Marco Finelli.
Binter Canarias (Grand Canaria) on June 25, 2009 named its ATR 72-212A (ATR 72-500) EC-KGJ (msn 753) “Madeira” formally at Funchal Airport (FNC) on lsland of Madeira in an official ceremony. This aircraft was named after the Portuguese island, located just north of Canary Islands, due to a new partnership between the Spanish carrier and Windsor Travel. A water cannon salute was performed shortly after landing.
Cambodia Angkor Air (Phnom Penh) is Cambodia’s latest attempt to have a successful flag carrier. This new attempt is a joint venture between the government of Cambodia and Vietnam Airlines (Hanoi). The airline will start scheduled operations on July 27 from the new Preah Sihanouk International Airport (formerly named the Kang Keng Airport) to Siem Reap with two ATR 72s leased from Vietnam. However the airline is expected to operate Airbus A320s and A321s later this year to international destinations.
Cambodia Angkor Air (Phnom Penh) today (July 27) as planned launched scheduled passenger services to Siem Reap (Angkor Wat), Sihanoukville and Ho Chi Minh City with two ATR 72s operated by Vietnam Airlines in the joint venture. The colors are lavender and gold.
Route Map:
www.cambodiaangkorair.com/default.aspx?tabid=242
Bangkok Air (Bangkok) lost its ATR 72-212A (ATR 72-500) HS-PGL (msn 670) in an accident today (August 4) on the resort island of Koh Samui in Thailand. At least one person is dead (the captain) and seven others are injured. The ATR was landing in a rain storm after arriving from Krabi. The airliner ran off the runway crashing into an old (unmanned) control tower.
Please click on photo for full view, information and other crashed aircraft.
News link from Reuters:
www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSTRE5731YR20090804
Merpati Nusantara Airlines (Jakarta) is planning to lease seven ATR 72s in the first quarter of 2010 for domestic and regional routes.
News link:
www.thejakartapost.com/news/2009/11/11/merpati-prepares-fund-leasing-new-planes.html
Wings Air (subsidiary of Lion Air) (Jakarta) has firmed up and signed a $600 million contract with ATR to purchase 15 ATR 72-500 (ATR 72-212As), with options for 15 ATR 72-600s.
Press release:
www.atr.fr/public/atr/html/press/releases-details.php?aid=1073
BoraJet (Istanbul) is a new Turkish airline that will soon receive three 66-seat ATR 72-500s (the first is due in mid December). The company intends to operate to smaller airports in the country starting in 2010.
News link:
www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=borajet-prepares-to-take-off-2009-11-17
Copyright Photo: ATR 72-212A 9M-MWG (msn 895) taxies at Toulouse. The new airliner was handed over on November 27.
MASwings (subsidiary of Malaysia Airlines) (Miri) has taken delivery of its sixth ATR 72-212A (ATR 72-500).
MASwings ATR 72-212A (ATR 72-500) F-WWEX (9M-MWB) (msn 856) TLS, originally uploaded by Airliners Gallery.
MASwings (Miri) will display its latest ATR 72-212A (ATR 72-500) at the Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace Exhi bition (Lima 2009) from December 1-5.
News link:
thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/11/30/nation/5206794&sec=nation
Copyright Photo: Guillaume Besnard.
Please click on photo or link below for full view, information, prints for sale and other photos:
Copyright Photo: Alejandro Hdez Leon. 68-seat ATR 72-212A (ATR72-500) CX-JCL (msn 805) passed through Gran Canaria on February 10 on delivery.
BQB Lineas Aereas (Montevideo) is new airline in Uruguay owned by the owner of Buquebus, Juan Carlos Lopez Ore. The new project is awaiting its AOC but it intends to start scheduled operations in either April or May. The initial routes will connect Montevideo with Punta del Este, Buenos Aires (Aeroparque), Rosario and Cordova, Salto and Porto Alegre with two ATR 72s.
BQB Slide Show: CLICK HERE
Copyright Photo: Mustafa Sancar. ATR 72-212A (ATR 72-500) TC-YAD (msn 702) is ready to start operations from its IST base.
BoraJet (Istanbul) which took delivery of its first ATR 72-212A (ATR 72-500) now has three (TC-YAB, TC-YAC and TC-YAD) awaiting authority to commence operations. The new airline plans to serve smaller airports.
Copyright Photo: Terry Wade.
Aer Arann (Dublin) has leased ex-ASA ATR 72-212 EI-SLL (msn 387, ex N641AS) named “Aoife” from Air Contractors in this non-standard green and white livery. Copyright Photo: Terry Wade. EI-SLL prepares to depart from London (City) for the Isle of Man.
American Eagle Airlines-Executive Airlines ATR 72-212 N270AT (msn 270) MIA (Bruce Drum), originally uploaded by Airliners Gallery.
American Eagle Airlines (Dallas/Fort Worth) announced nonstop service between Miami International Airport (MIA) and Gainesville Regional Airport (GNV) in Gainesville, FL, beginning on October 1. Executive Airlines will operate the new service with its 64-seat ATR 72-200 aircraft.
Copyright Photo: Bruce Drum. ATR 72-212 N270AT (msn 270) taxies carefully on the Eagle ramp at the MIA hub.
Azul Linhas Aereas (Sao Paulo) signed a contract with ATR for the purchase of 40 ATR 72-600s; 20 on firm order and 20 options. This agreement, signed and announced at London’s Farnborough Air Show, makes Azul the first airline in Latin America to place an order for the ATR -600 series aircraft. The deal is worth $850 million, including the options, and deliveries of the new aircraft will commence in late 2011.
The new ATR 72-600 fleet, in a 70-seat configuration, will enable Azul to continue expansion of its domestic regional network as it adds smaller regional routes. Azul currently serves 21 destinations in Brazil with a mix of Embraer ERJ 190 and ERJ 195 aircraft (with 106 and 118 seats each, respectively).
LAMIA-Linea Aerea Meridena Internacional de Aviacion (Merida) is a new airline in Venezuela. The new carrier commenced operations on August 16 with an ATR 72-212A (ATR 72-500) registered EC-KKQ (msn 763) “El Merideno” (The Merida) which was wet leased from Swiftair (Madrid).
Santiago de los Caballeros de Merida is the capital of the municipality of Liberator and the state of Merida and is one of the principal cities of the Venezuelan Andes. The city was founded in 1558.
Read the full story (in Spanish) from El Universal:
Finnair (Helsinki) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Finncomm Oy to buy 20% of Finncomm Airlines (Finnish Commuter Airlines Oy) (FCA) (Helsinki) and all of the stock of the companies that own Finncomm’s 12 ATR aircraft.
Finnair and Finncomm Airlines have also entered into a new commercial agreement for further cooperation on the winter schedule.
According to the Finnair press release, under the new code-share agreement with Finnair, Finncomm will fly the Turku, Tampere and Tallinn flights (as it has to date) and will also fly as a new service the Jyväskylä route, six times per day. Also on the Joensuu, Kuopio and Vaasa routes, Finncomm will fly some of the code-share flights. In addition, cooperation will cover the Norrköping route.
Finncomm Airlines’ route network also includes Kokkola, Kemi, Seinäjoki, Savonlinna and Varkaus.
The new commercial agreement replaces the previously announced agreement between Finnair and the airline Flybe on the arrangement of feeder traffic. Nevertheless, negotiations on cooperation with Flybe in other traffic will
continue.
At the same time, Finnair and Finncomm have signed a preliminary agreement on ownership arrangements through which Finncomm’s current ownership structure will change. Finnair’s objective is to acquire a minority shareholding in the Finncomm Group. A strengthening of the ownership structure through new investors will also be pursued.
Copyright Photo: It will be interesting to see if Finncomm will lose its individual brand and adopt the colors of Finnair. ATR 72-212A (ATR 72-500) F-WWEB (msn 741) arrives back at Toulouse after a test flight in the 2003 livery. It became OH-ATE on delivery.
Caribbean Airlines (Port of Spain) announced the signature of an agreement for the purchase of nine ATR 72-600 aircraft. With this US$ 200 million order, Caribbean Airlines will become a new ATR operator. The aircraft are configured with 68 seats and equipped with the new ATR -600 series avionics suite and with the new Armonia Cabin. Deliveries will start in late 2011.
With its fleet of brand new ATR 72-600s, this flag carrier will replace its current fleet of five DHC-8 300 aircraft, while adding new frequencies linking Trinidad and Tobago and surrounding destinations. In addition, several of the new ATRs will be operated in the route network of Air Jamaica, recently acquired by Caribbean Airlines.
