The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has certified ATR 42-600 and ATR 72-600 turboprop aircrafts to "ETOPS 120 minutes" stan...
This ETOPS (Extended-range Twin-engine Performance Standards) certification means that the ATR 42-600 and ATR 72-600 versions can now fly with one engine, as far as 120 flight minutes from any airport at which they can land.
“ETOPS 120” thus allows aircraft to provide direct links between airports located at maximum distances equaling four flight hours (two hours maximum flight time from the departure airport plus two hours maximum flight time to the closest airport where to land safely).
ETOPS is an International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) rule permitting twin-engined commercial air transports to fly routes that, at some points, are farther than a distance of 60 minutes flying time from an emergency or diversion airport.
Extended range operations by aircraft with two turbine power units (ETOPS or EROPS) are sometimes necessary to permit twin engine aircraft to operate over very long sectors where the range from a suitable alternate aerodrome will exceed the maximum laid down in regulations. This maximum is laid down by national authorities and is normally the distance corresponding to 60 minutes flight time at the single engine cruise speed.
The ATR 42 and ATR 72 are the only regional turboprop aircrafts to hold this 120-minutes certification, which is very important for air networks, such as in French Polynesia or Siberia, where the distances between the two closest airports can be up to 2,000 kilometers. This “ETOPS 120 minutes” certification enables to establish more direct flight plans between departure points and the final destination, with considerable reduction in journey time, fuel consumption and gas emissions.
EASA has also certified ATR 42-600 and ATR 72-600 to operate in temperatures as low as -45°C at take-off and landing. This certification means that '-600' series ATRs can now fly with other ATR versions already certified to operate in particularly cold environments such as the far north of Europe, Canada and Siberia.
As part of this certification process, the EASA certified new ATR ‘-600’ equipment and systems -installed on their new avionics suite -, which had already been designed by ATR suppliers taking into consideration their future use in extremely low-temperature environments.
Since their launch at the end of 2007, new ‘-600’ series ATR aircraft have been positioned as the top selling regional aircraft with less than 90 seats worldwide. ATR has to date received more than 300 orders for this new family of aircraft.
