TAME Takes Delivery of First ATR 42-500

Ecuador’s national flag carrier TAME has taken delivery of the first ATR 42-500 that will operate in the country.

The European turboprop manufacturer ATR and TAME inked a US$ 54 million dollars contract for three of these aircraft at the last Paris Air Show, in June 2011.

The new aircraft will enable the airline to develop public service routes across the country. With these new ATR 42-500s, TAME will bring air connections to some remote Ecuadorian areas, while feeding main national airports at Quito and Guayaquil.

Commenting on the first delivery, General Gustavo Cuesta, Chief Executive Officer of TAME, said, “The ATR 42-500s are optimally suited for the type of public service routes we want to develop in Ecuador, as they provide the lowest operating and maintenance costs, and feature optimal performance in hot and high environments and short runways.”

Filippo Bagnato, Chief Executive Officer of ATR, added, “This new delivery demonstrates there is clearly a market niche for 50-seat aircraft, while we are today the only manufacturer proposing aircraft of this capacity. We are happy of adding TAME among our increasing list of operators in Latin America. ATRs are becoming really popular aircraft in this region. There is today more than 120 ATR aircraft flying daily in Latin America for almost 30 operators. Also, Latin America represents more than 20% of our current historical backlog of over 270 aircraft.”

ATR 42-500

Passenger capacity: 50 seats
Engines: Pratt & Whitney 127M
Maximum power at take-off: 2,400 horse power per engine
Maximum weight at take-off: 18,600 kgs
Maximum payload: 5,500 kgs
Maximum range with full passenger load: 801 nautical miles (1,483 kms)

See recent travel news from: Travel News Asia, Ecuador, TAME, ATR, 42-500