ATR was also present at the Paris Air Show 2023 in Le Bourget Airport, as the Franco-Italian turboprop manufacturer brought a recently-manufactured ATR 72-600. Its then-future operator is a familiar sight in Brazil, being Azul’s latest delivery of the type.
The aircraft, with serial number 1666 and provisional registration F-WWEL, had just recently been finished and, before flying to Brazil, it was used for the event.
Serial number 1666 is now registered PR-YXB and named «Amor Azul» (Blue Love).
(Click the photos to see them in a larger size).
Azul’s fleet of ATR 72-600 is configured with 70 seats (on the few ATRs «inherited» from TRIP, 68).
While Azul has been receiving brand new ATR 72-600s since PR-ATR «Azul Tango Romeo» joined the fleet in late 2011, the seat type is now another one.
But even twelve years later, the ATR is still a very important piece of Azul’s overall strategy, as it helps drive connecting traffic from smaller cities to its major bases. With this, a passenger can depart from Uruguaiana in an ATR and then connect into Campinas in an Airbus A320neo. From then, it can then connect onwards to Azul’s international network.
The aircraft was ready to go after the event ended, with all signs in Portuguese and English already in place.
The glass cockpit characteristic of the ATR -600 series has remained the same.
An important change, however, is that the ATR 72-600’s engine has been upgraded. The new Pratt & Whitney PW127XT, the manufacturer says, brings a 3% reduction in fuel burn versus the original PW127M series.
After the event ended, the aircraft was flown back to ATR’s base in Toulouse, still as F-WWEL. Less than a week later, already under its new Brazilian registration PR-YXB, the brand-new turboprop was delivered in a flight from Toulouse to Belo Horizonte via Lanzarote, Sal and Natal, according to data by Flightradar24.
And following a very rainy morning, the sun opened up as the final trade day came to a close in Le Bourget.
