India will be ATR’s biggest market in 5 years

NEW DELHI: Franco-Italian regional aircraft major ATR sees India emerge as its biggest market in the next five years. And as that happens, the turboprop-maker says “it will be foolish not to increase our footprint here” in terms of sourcing of components, pilot training and others.
“India currently has 65 ATRs — 45 with IndiGo and 20 with Alliance Air.IndiGo is to get five more. Startup carrier Fly 91 (which is being launched by aviation industry veteran Manoj Chacko) will get its first leased ATR anytime now and the second in a week or so,” Jean-Pierre Clercin, ATR’s head of commercial for Asia Pacific, said.
“Indonesia has about 100 ATRs and is currently our biggest market. India and Brazil come after that. But the way the Indian economy and air travel in the country is booming, within five years India will have the maximum ATRs given government’s focus on regional air transport throughude desh ka aam naagrik

(UDAN) scheme,” Clercin said.
ATR feels India will need 50-150 such planes in the next decade. “That is the official estimation. But given the way India is developing, the actual number could be even higher. Much higher,” he said.
The turboprop major is in talks with several Indian airlines for more orders. “The focus here is on regional and ATR is for that. So we are talking to all the airlines in India,” he said.
Asked if ATR plans to make in India, Clercin said: “We do already have a presence in India. There are some simulators (for pilot training) operated by third parties in India. The footprint depends a lot on the size of the markets, and. India is one of the most promising aviation markets globally. We’ve seen the amazing resilience of the country. As the market is so big, we need to look at all options.”