ATR is reinforcing its portfolio of services |
| Léo Barnier |
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01 FEB 2018 | 365 words
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© ATR |
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Aircraft sales aren't the only source of income for ATR. Christian Scherer, CEO of the Franco-Italian manufacturer was only too happy to remind everyone of this during ATR's annual press briefing in Toulouse. Like other aircraft manufacturers, ATR is developing its support and services offer. This is particularly true for training or for MRO. Of the 1.8 billion dollars in income generated in 2017, 300 million comes from its portfolio of support and services. And these activities should make their mark as one of the main growth levers for ATR in 2018.
Even if ATR's pure maintenance activities are still a very small part of the company's overall business, the manufacturer has a whole host of assistance, modification, repair and logistics services which it provides on its own or in partnership. Over 300 planes are now covered by its Global Maintenance Agreement (GMA). "This is a very good market penetration rate", notes Christian Scherer. It shows our credibility".
Training is also well on the up. After installing new full flight simulators (FFS) in Miami (Florida) and Paris in 2017, the manufacturer will be repeating the experience in 2018. They have already announced that the simulator fleet already in place in Toulouse will be strengthened with a brand new ATR 72-600 FFS, built by Canadian specialist CAE. It is due to be operational in 2018.
"We have chosen to invest in training again, as the regional market is having to cope with a lack of capability", details Christian Scherer. "We will be doing our utmost to maintain them in 2018". He also announced that another installation should be created this year and that it could be located in any region around the world. Nevertheless, the Miami centre, which won recent contracts from Silver Airways and FedEx, seems to be the favourite.
ATR is hoping to overcome the lack of pilots, which is of particular concern for regional airlines. For Christian Scherer: "It is a worldwide phenomenon which is affecting all markets around the globe. It's something which is predictable, there is a natural propensity for pilots to move towards larger planes. Their salary is still very strongly linked to the size of the planes they fly" he added.
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Léo Barnier
Specialized journalist
Industry & Technology, Equipments, MRO
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