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Wings Air is an Indonesian low-cost service that’s a part of the broader Lion Air group. Specializing in regional commuter flights, it operates a fleet that consists completely of Franco-Italian ATR turboprop plane. Let’s check out the fashions it operates, and has on order.
The ATR 72-500
Based on ch-aviation.com, Wings Air’s current fleet consists of 66 ATR turboprop plane. All of those come from the Franco-Italian producer’s ATR 72 collection. The ATR 72 first flew in 1988, and is a bigger growth of the ATR 42, whose first flight occurred in 1984. The ATR 72 has outsold the ATR 42, with over 1,200 gross sales in comparison with lower than 500.
The 66 ATR 72s that Wings Air presently flies are cut up between two variants of the kind. The least quite a few model is the ATR 72-500, of which the Indonesian low-cost service operates 18 examples. 15 of those had been lively on the time of writing, with 3 in upkeep. Wings Air flew a complete of 20 of those till the beginning of this yr.
The typical age of the airline’s ATR 72-500s is 10.9 years outdated. Every of them can accommodate 70 passengers in an all-economy, four-abreast (2-2) seating configuration.
The ATR 72-600
The remaining 48 plane in Wings Air’s current fleet are examples of the ATR 72-600 variant. This model of the favored Franco-Italian turboprop options a number of enhancements over its -500 counterpart. These embody a five-LCD display cockpit, in addition to the power to use a 5% energy increase throughout takeoff if crucial. It makes use of PW127M turboprop engines.
42 of Wings Air’s 48 ATR 72-600s had been listed lively on the time of writing. 5 of the remaining six had been present process upkeep, with the opposite instance in storage. Traditionally talking, the Indonesian regional operator has additionally operated a forty ninth instance of the kind.
The airline’s ATR 72-600s are considerably youthful, clocking in at a mean age of 6.2 years outdated. They’ve the identical 70-seat setup because the -500s, a standard configuration for the ATR 72. A notable exception is Lübeck Air, whose spacious ATR 72s have simply 60 seats.
Wings Air is an enormous fan of the ATR 72-600, with 16 extra but to be delivered. Photograph: ATR
Extra turboprops inbound
Within the coming years, the typical age of each Wings Air’s ATR 72s and its fleet as an entire will doubtless fall additional. This is because of the truth that it nonetheless has 16 examples of the ATR 72-600 on order which can be but to be delivered. Wings Air’s Pak Rusdi Kirana acknowledged in 2012 that:
“Our fleet of ATR 72s is taking part in a serious function within the growth and democratization of the aviation companies in Indonesia, bringing new journey potentialities, at low charges, to an growing a part of the inhabitants.”
Contemplating the kind’s environmental and operational advantages, he added:
“The ATR plane are completely tailored to the Indonesian short-haul market, and permit Wings Air to attach communities, even these situated in distant areas. They’re additionally contributing to the preservation of the setting because of their very low CO2 emissions price.”
Wings Air’s ATR 72s changed growing old DeHavilland Sprint 8-300 turboprops and rear-engined McDonnell Douglas MD-80 collection jets. They appear set to type the spine of its fleet for a few years to come back, providing the airline important adaptability and effectivity.
What do you make of Wings Air’s all-ATR fleet? Have you ever ever flown on one of many Indonesian service’s turboprops? Tell us your ideas and experiences within the feedback!
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