On the occasion of the European Regional Association (ERA) General Assembly, held in Salzburg, the Danish leasing firm Nordic Aviation Capital (NAC) and the regional turboprop aircraft manufacturer ATR have announced the signature to increase the order placed at the 2013 Paris Airshow by an order for additionally 15 firm ATRs and options for 25 aircraft. The value of the increase alone is US$ 1 Billion. The cumulative orders placed in recent months by NAC reach 130 ATR aircraft, with 50 firm ATR -600 series aircraft and options for 80. In recent years, NAC has built up the largest portfolio of ATRs in the world. It currently manages a fleet of some 90 ATRs in operation, and within the next four years will expand its portfolio up to some 150 with the delivery of its remaining firm aircraft from ATR’s backlog. The large amount of orders for ATRs booked by NAC since 2011 underlines the increasing interest of leasing firms on the ATR -600s aircraft, the best-selling regional aircraft below 90-seats in recent years and recently ranked first among investors’ and operators’ at the 2012 Airfinance Journal annual survey. As of today, some 25% of the total backlog of ATR will be delivered to leasing firms.

Commenting on this announcement, Martin Møller, Chairman of NAC, declared: “We are pleased to have inked such an outstanding amount of ATRs this year, as this clearly underlines the business these aircraft are providing us all over the world. Their strong performance and reliability, coupled with their proven operational success in very different environments make them the right choice for us when thinking about expanding our regional aircraft activities. When a type of aircraft is operated by more than 180 airlines in more than 90 countries, you have the best proof of their popularity and convenience for regional networks”.

Filippo Bagnato, Chief Executive Officer of ATR, said: “In the last years, we have developed and consolidated a very fruitful partnership with NAC. The result of the strong work we have done together is that today the ATRs are entering into new markets, are being operated by an increasing number of airlines and are contributing to further deploy regional air connectivity in many countries”. He added: “NAC is playing a key role in expanding the popularity of the newest ATR -600s all over the world”.