Abelo To Order 10 ATR 72-600s In December

DUBAI—Turboprop leasing startup Abelo has here signed a Heads of Agreement with ATR that should lead to a firm order for 10 ATR 72-600s, with options for an additional 10. 

The full contract is expected to be signed in December, officials say, for aircraft with the standard 70-seat configuration.

Ireland-based Abelo is to receive its first ATR from a previous order in December, too. The lessor placed an order in July 2022, when it was formed, for 10 ATR 72-600s and 10 ATR 42-600S, the short-takeoff-and-landing version of the 30-50-seat turboprop. It has since placed four of those with customers, the fourth being an ATR 42-600S, Abelo CEO Steve Gorman says at the Dubai Airshow.

For the combined orders, deliveries will be spread over 2023-28. Gorman sees turboprop demand accelerating, particularly in Southeast Asia. “We have come back to the market a bit sooner than expected,” he says. The lessor has 58 aircraft in its portfolio, 60% of them ATRs.

ATR is targeting 40 deliveries this year and a similar number of orders, says Alexis Vidal, ATR's senior vice president of commercial aviation. Over the first nine months of 2023, the Airbus-Leonardo joint venture delivered 21 aircraft.