The ATR EVO, the new version of the turboprop that ATR intends to have in service by 2028, will be a state-of-the-art aircraft and definitely not outdated, despite being based on a forty-year-old design. The airframer will include various technological innovations, including mild-hybrid propulsion, says Stephane Viala, Senior Vice President of Engineering and Head of Design Organization. AirInsight sat with him during the Farnborough Airshow to discuss the EVO. 'ATR EVO will be a state-of-the-art and innovative turboprop'. ATR announced the plans for the EVO on May 18, issuing a press release, computer animations, and a video of the updated version of the 72-600 on which it is based. It said then that the aircraft would be officially launched in 2023 for entry into service at the end of the decade, later specified as 2028-2029. First, the French/Italian company owned by Airbus and Leonardo would issue a request for information with engine makers for a new engine to replace the recently introduced Pratt & Whitney PW127-XT. Airinsight – What is the status of this request for information with the engine makers? Viala – “We just received last week the answers from the engine manufacturers, so we are working on the reply.” AirInsight – From Pratt & Whitney and the others? Viala – “Yes, from all the main manufacturers. We received the offers and we are going to start to dig more into the details to firm up the architecture of the engine, which is one of the core ingredients of the EVO. Especially as we talk about the mild-hybridization and understand with the manufacturers how it would downsize the core of the engine and therefore reduce the fuel consumption, which is the main objective of this aircraft. Why? We want to have sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) but we know it will be more expensive, so we have to compensate for this on the consumption side of the engine as well as the direct maintenance costs of the engine. So we reduce the core of the engine and then we will do the sizing of the engine to cover the take-off, the climb, and the one-engine operating ceiling, with additional power coming from electricity. This is what we call the mild-hybridization, with a battery to feed this electrical motor.” The ATR 72-600 as we know it now and how it was on static display at the Farnborough Airshow. (Richard Schuurman) “Up to the end of the year, we will work in the plateau phase with the manufacturers to firm up the powerplant architecture. In parallel, we are working on the other changes that we are investigating on this aircraft, which is the de-icing system because we want to change the boot to something that will reduce direct maintenance costs. And we are also working on the cabin to see what we can do and on various trade-offs to further improve the aircraft on the acoustic side of the cabin. For that, we are also looking at the propeller to reduce consumption. It could be an eight-blade propeller, but that is something under trade-off. If we go to eight blades, we can reduce the acoustics and improve the efficiency of the airframe. But the question that we have to answer is what the benefit is towards the maintenance costs.” “So the plan is to firm up the engine architecture plan until the end of the year, then in parallel, we will run the trade-off until the middle of next year in order to be able to launch it at the end of 2023.” AirInsight – Not at the Paris Airshow next year? Viala – “Not in Paris next year.” AirInsight – So the engines are the biggest factor in this new version, that’s where the improvements have to come from? Viala – “Yes, we want to reduce the consumption by twenty percent as compared to today. That means twenty percent carbon dioxide reductions, and be 100 percent compatible with SAF. This would reduce our emissions by 82 percent. This is our target. You see it will be close to zero before the end of the decade. But as we define more of the architecture, we want to be robust on the future evolution when hydrogen or other new technologies are available. We want to have to provision to have an architecture that is ready to move towards those new technologies when the infrastructure is ready when it will be mature and affordable in terms of costs, because for us, what is really important is that we keep the economical equation viable for our customers. We also need to keep a versatile aircraft because of the infrastructure around the world. We want to continue serving the communities we are serving, which are in places like islands. That’s the core of our customer base.” The engine nacelles and wing/fuselage fairing will be very different on the EVO. If the propeller will really get eight blades still needs to be confirmed. (ATR) AirInsight – Pratt & Whitney, General Electric, and Rolls-Royce have also offered turboprop engines to Embraer for their new turboprop. Are these the same that they are offering ATR? Viala – “It’s not at all the same size. Embraer is keeping the engine more traditional, we are more innovative with embracing the challenges of CO2 reduction in order to put novelty into the design and reach a step-change by 2030 in terms of emissions. This is the main difference, I would say. It is not the same size.” AirInsight – Their engine is less powerful and you are adding mild-hybridization to it? Viala – “No, the engine for Embraer will be bigger, for us it will be smaller. Thanks to the mild-hybridization we will reduce as well the size of the core, which will reduce both the maintenance costs of the engine and the fuel consumption.” AirInsight – What will change aerodynamically on the EVO? The aircraft looks the same as the 72-600. Isn’t there a need to update a design that is already a few decades old or is it still a good design? Viala – “The airframe is an optimized design. If you look carefully at the picture of the EVO, you would see that there are some changes. The nacelle of the engine is completely different to have better aerodynamic integration. To have the blades fully integrated with the airframe means that have changed everything. So we are playing with all secondary structures. If you look at the cover of the top of the wing, it isn’t at all the same as we have now. We are optimizing from an aerodynamic standpoint because we know the aircraft perfectly well and know where we have to optimize.” The empennage of the EVO looks identical to the current version but could be tweaked. (ATR) AirInsight – Your customer base today is very diverse. You have them in developed countries, you have them in less-developed, rugged areas. Does that influence how advanced and sophisticated you want to be on the design? Do you trade technological improvements versus costs? Viala – “For sure. We want to keep the versatility of the aircraft. We have one that can operate on unpaved runways, in very high crosswinds. I like to say that the ATR is a Swiss knife, you can use it everywhere. We have to keep this. We have to keep the robustness and the affordability of the costs. If we would put in a lot of new, expensive technology, it will not work with all of our customers we have today. This is the economical equation of the ecological equation that we are solving with the EVO. In the end, the end customer needs to be able to pay for the ticket. That’s we aren’t jumping to the longer-term technology that will be expensive at the beginning. We use technology that will bring what the market needs.” “By the way: in the development in the second part of the year, we will have a panel of airlines that will be involved in the discussion. In our trade-off, we involve a base customer panel from across the world in order to help us really. So we will have a differentiation until the end of 2023 to figure out the best optimum for our customers.” AirInsight – You plan to enter service with the EVO in 2028-2029. Why do you take so long? Viala – “It is a classical time I would say to develop a new engine, which takes five to six years. We are putting a little bit of technology on board that we have to develop. We still have to make decisions and do the tradeoff. It is the best timing for the demand, so we are fitting together the schedule with engine manufacturers, with system providers, so the schedule is really the optimum.” AirInsight – What do you say to critics who say ‘The EVO isn’t looking that revolutionary, not that next-generation like aircraft that others are developing, like Embraer that are going with a clean sheet aircraft’? Are you aggressive enough in your design? Viala – “Yes. If you look at the EVO, we are very pragmatic and change what needs to be changed. I don’t want to comment too much on Embraer, but they are starting from an existing airframe, it’s not a new aircraft. (the fuselage is indeed based on the E2-series – RS). The arrival of Embraer coming with a turboprop shows that the market is there, there is a demand, so that is reassuring for us. But as said, we follow a pragmatic and innovative way that we have done for many years. Today’s cockpit of an ATR is in between the Airbus A380 and the A350. We are working on a new computer that is at the top of technology. Airbus will use it as well on their aircraft. All our documentation is fully digital now. We have been able to keep the aircraft at the edge of what needs to be done for our customers while not changing what doesn’t need to be changed.” ATR needs until the end of 2023 before it is ready to launch the EVO. (ATR) AirInsight – How and where does hydrogen fit into your plans? Will there be an EVO with hydrogen propulsion one day? Viala – “While we work on the EVO, we are also working in parallel on this long-term technology with Airbus to identify what needs to be done. The architecture we will define has to be robust for future challenges. We aren’t going to change the engines, so we have to put in place a provision that when green hydrogen will become available around the world, we will be ready. First, we want to have an aircraft that is versatile during a long period of time before hydrogen will come and have an aircraft available in 2030 that already can bring a reduction of emissions by 82 percent.”
