ATR 42-600 Finishes China Demo Tour

The ATR 42-600 on Monday completed a demonstration tour of southwestern China, where it operated in mountainous environments to show its high-altitude capabilities.

The tour saw the smaller of the ATR 600-series tandem of turboprops visit several airports in Yunnan Province, including the highest airport the ATR 42 has ever served, in Diqing, situated 10,787 feet above sea level. Other destinations included the similarly challenging airports in Lijiang and Kunming.

“No other regional aircraft in production could regularly serve Diqing in a general aviation configuration and this highlights its remarkable versatility and performance, even in hot-and-high conditions, surrounded by challenging terrain,” remarked ATR chief executive Stefano Bortoli.

The ATR 42-600’s Standard 3 avionics suite features a Required Navigation Performance (RNP-AR) of 0.3/0.3, offering a guidance precision of 0.3 nautical miles and allowing for more accurate navigation in both the takeoff and landing phase. RNP-AR 0.3/0.3 can also offer shorter tracks, meaning less fuel burn, increased payload through reduced climb gradient requirements, and a lower decision altitude. Standard 3 avionics offers the option of the Thales synthetic vision system, which ATR also demonstrated to airline officials and pilots accompanying company executives on the tour. Displaying images of terrain from a database, the SVS improves a pilot’s situational awareness during periods of reduced visibility and when flying in mountainous terrain.

ATR estimates that China will need 300 turboprops over the next 20 years to serve its developing regional airline environment and another 800 for general aviation segments. Regional aircraft now account for only 2 percent of China’s fleet, compared with a worldwide average of 25 percent. As a result, airlines flying mainline jets often require large government subsidies to remain viable, according to ATR.