Federal Express (FedEx) ATR Industries ATR42
The ATR company was founded in 1981 as a joint French-Italian venture to manufacture regional turboprop airliners, mainly to compete with deHavilland Canada (now Bombardier) and British Aerospace, whose Dash 8 and Jetstreams dominated the regional airliner market. The first product rolled out by the company was the ATR 42, so named because it could seat 42 passengers.
ATR started slow, and their aircraft acquired a poor reputation at first, thanks to a number of fatal crashes due to icing problems. These were resolved, and the ATR 42 began to attract customers. As the regional airliner type began to boom, as they were cheaper to operate than larger and older jets, ATR added a second aircraft type, the ATR 72, which included a fuselage stretch to double the number of seats. Since then, ATR has held its own against the two giants of regional airliners, Bombardier and EMBRAER of Brazil.
This ATR 42 belongs to Federal Express' Feeder fleet, operating from small airports. Great Falls International is a FedEx hub, with ATRs and Cessna 280 Caravans flying to and from regional airports in Montana and Idaho to Great Falls, where packages are transferred to Boeing 757s and Airbus A300s. Great Falls' ATRs are operated by Empire Airlines of Hayden, Idaho, though the aircraft themselves are owned by FedEx. All three of FedEx's types were on display at the Wings Over the Falls airshow in August 2012, where I got this picture of an ATR. (I originally had this listed as an ATR 72; it is an ATR 42.)
Federal Express (FedEx) ATR Industries ATR42
The ATR company was founded in 1981 as a joint French-Italian venture to manufacture regional turboprop airliners, mainly to compete with deHavilland Canada (now Bombardier) and British Aerospace, whose Dash 8 and Jetstreams dominated the regional airliner market. The first product rolled out by the company was the ATR 42, so named because it could seat 42 passengers.
ATR started slow, and their aircraft acquired a poor reputation at first, thanks to a number of fatal crashes due to icing problems. These were resolved, and the ATR 42 began to attract customers. As the regional airliner type began to boom, as they were cheaper to operate than larger and older jets, ATR added a second aircraft type, the ATR 72, which included a fuselage stretch to double the number of seats. Since then, ATR has held its own against the two giants of regional airliners, Bombardier and EMBRAER of Brazil.
This ATR 42 belongs to Federal Express' Feeder fleet, operating from small airports. Great Falls International is a FedEx hub, with ATRs and Cessna 280 Caravans flying to and from regional airports in Montana and Idaho to Great Falls, where packages are transferred to Boeing 757s and Airbus A300s. Great Falls' ATRs are operated by Empire Airlines of Hayden, Idaho, though the aircraft themselves are owned by FedEx. All three of FedEx's types were on display at the Wings Over the Falls airshow in August 2012, where I got this picture of an ATR. (I originally had this listed as an ATR 72; it is an ATR 42.)