Lion Group becomes ATR’s largest customer

ATR and Indonesia’s Lion Group have today signed a US$ 1 Billion purchase agreement for 40 additional ATR 72-600s, hiking the firm order total for the newest generation ATR turboprops to 100 aircraft. Today’s signature marks a milestone in ATR’s history, as Lion Group becomes ATR’s largest customer ever.

This new contract has been inked by Mr.Rusdi Kirana, Chairman of the Lion Group and Patrick de Castelbajac, Chief Executive Officer of ATR, on the occasion of a special ceremony held in Rome, witnessed by Mr.Matteo Renzi, Italy’s Prime Minister.

There are currently three subsidiary airlines in the Lion Group operating ATRs: Wings Air with a fleet of 32 ATR aircraft operating in Indonesia; Malindo Air with a fleet of 10 ATRs operating in Malaysia; and Thai Lion Air, so far with 1 ATR in operation in Thailand. Deliveries of the 40 aircraft signed today will start in 2017 and run into 2019.

The Asia Pacific region accounts for nearly 40 percent of the sales of the ATR -600 series aircraft. Today, more than 300 ATR aircraft are operated by Asia-Pacific carriers, while there are some other 100 on order.

Source and image: ATR