ATR CEO Nathalie Tarnaud Laude.
LE BOURGET: Speaking at the Paris Air Show, ATR CEO Nathalie Tarnaud Laude shared details of ATR’s year-to-date performance, while also discussing its goal of ramping up production to 60 deliveries a year and pushing ahead with the EVO future aircraft concept, both of which efforts she cautions will take time. With orders for 30 aircraft already in the bag, ATR is on track to post its strongest first half since the pandemic.
ATR’s sales have more than doubled in the past two years, rising from a full-year order tally of 26 aircraft in 2022, followed by 40 in 2023, 56 in 2024 and 30 and counting for 2025.
“We are still on track to stabilize deliveries from next year,” Tarnaud Laude told a packed media briefing. “We want to ramp up. That is clear.”
In 2025, ATR expects to roughly match the 35 aircraft delivered in 2024; however, it is still struggling with supply chain issues, including aerostructures from smaller suppliers.
“We have some pain points. Landing gears are still challenging. However, we have a very close cooperation with Safran landing gear systems,” Tarnaud Laude said.
Tarnaud Laude is planning to ramp up to 60 aircraft within the next three to four years, with hopes to go beyond that level in the future. “We feel confident that we can put this together, but it will take time,” she said.
ATR SVP operations and procurement Marion Smeyers, an ex-Airbus executive who is one month into her new role, said producing 60 aircraft per year is already “quite ambitious.” Part of her new role will be determining whether this can be achieved using the existing production line, given the supply chain challenges. “We need a ratio of being ambitious and realistic,” she said.
Beyond this, Tarnaud Laude is seeing “regained interest” in the smaller ATR 42-600 from both the US and Europe. “A number of customers are looking at that,” Tarnaud Laude said. ATR CCO Alexis Vidal said the ATR team is trying to work out how to balance demand for both variants. “If we need more ATR 42s, we will need to adapt,” he said.
ATR is also pushing ahead with on product improvements, such as reducing corrosion and extending its maintenance intervals from two to three years.
In the longer term, ATR is working with Pratt & Whitney (P&W) to improve fuel consumption, reduce maintenance costs, and to develop its EVO hybrid-electric aircraft concept. “We need all the information to help take the right decision on timing for the EVO launch,” Tarnaud Laude said.
The EVO program was slated to enter service in 2032, but this has been delayed because of battery performance issues. Tarnaud Laude said the EVO is now expected to be launched before the end of the decade, with entry into service by 2035.
At the moment, ATR is primarily engaged with P&W on the EVO program, because its engine is “most adapted” to ATR’s platform, but Tarnaud Laude said discussions are ongoing with “many others.”
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