A subsidiary of Airbus and Leonardo, producing turboprop aircraft with 40 to 78 seats, ATR presented its 2024 results in Blagnac on February 12, 2025.Ms. Nathalie Tarnaud Laude, President and CEO of ATR thus specified the following elements.

Deliveries in 2024 amounted to 35 aircraft, as in 2023, a far cry from the delivery levels of the great 2000s (50 aircraft per year).

Orders for 2024 amounted to 56 aircraft (51 ATR72s and 5 ATR42s), which represents a “book to bill” of more than one, fulfilling one of the 2024 objectives and a success for the ATR sales teams from this point of view. The order book now stands at 150 aircraft. Asia and Canada are active markets for ATR.

Sales for 2024 are set at 1.2 billion euros, of which around 40% will come from support activities for the 1,200 ATR aircraft (estimated) in flight today. The level of after-sales business generated by this large fleet of aircraft in service should thus usefully offset the level of deliveries seen in recent years.

For 2025, ATR still expects difficulties on the production line and therefore a year of stabilization.

For the future, it was announced  that the ATR42-600S STOL (Short Take Off and Landing), launched in October 2019 for short runways, had been abandoned after several years of study. The reason given was that the coveted market had shrunk considerably since its launch.

The ATR EVO decarbonized aircraft project, announced in 2022 and scheduled for 2030, with a hybridized propulsion system, new propellers and a new cabin, was expected to cut fuel consumption and maintenance costs by 20%. Like the ATR42-600 S, this ATR EVO project has also been announced halted or delayed.

The Airbus ZEROe (zero-emission) hydrogen-powered aircraft, initially announced for 2035, is now scheduled for 2050, according to an Airbus press release published in 2025. All this seems to have been prompted by a combination of immediate financial results optimization considerations, less competition between Airbus and Boeing due to Boeing’s setbacks, as well as a 7-year delay in the availability of hydrogen infrastructure on the ground.

In place of these projects, ATR has indicated that it now wishes to focus on short-term actions aimed at boosting “product competitiveness” and consolidating production.

To continue the great ATR story for many years to come and move towards a more carbon-free world, more ambitious goals will be needed in the coming years after this period of consolidation. Nadia Didelot