PARIS (Reuters) – The world’s largest commercial turboprop maker, Franco-Italian ATR, delivered 35 aircraft last year, just shy of the 36 handed to customers in 2023, and said on Wednesday it would pause efforts to ramp up production as it addresses problems in its supply chain.
ATR, which is jointly owned by Airbus and Leonardo, is the latest aircraft manufacturer to highlight supply problems as the aerospace industry struggles to regain industrial momentum after the pandemic.
It had targeted about 40 deliveries in 2024. It did not give a numerical target for 2025, saying it would focus on stabilising production at current levels, which are well below the peak of around 80 aircraft a year before the pandemic.
“When I look at 2025, I would say that the context is still very difficult so (the) supply chain situation as we see it will remain tense in some areas, but we see some areas of improvement,” CEO Nathalie Tarnaud Laude told a press conference.
“This year we will stabilize production at the level where we were and start to prepare for the rampup in the second part of the year. Our ambition is to ramp up to a high level of production.”
ATR is the dominant producer of regional turboprop planes, with a family of aircraft seating 42 to 78 people.
The company also pushed back the target date for a proposed hybrid-propulsion version of its family of aircraft to 2035 from 2030, citing the lack of available engine technology, FlightGlobal reported.
The move comes days after Airbus suspended a flagship proposal to develop a new regional hydrogen-powered aircraft for five to 10 years.
Commercial momentum remains strong and ATR aims to continue to add to its order book in 2025, Tarnaud Laude said.
ATR reported 56 new orders in 2024, up from 40 a year earlier. After cancellations, it posted 53 net orders for 2024.
(Reporting by Tim Hepher, Editing by Louise Heavens and Rod Nickel)
