What is ATR’s long-term sustainable strategy?

Turboprop maker ATR and Swedish Braathens Regional Airlines (BRA) are jointly pushing the certification of 100-percent sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), they have announced on September 16. While this is a clearly defined target, the French-Italian airframer has yet to share its vision on how sustainable aviation really looks like in the coming decades. What is ATR’s long-term sustainable strategy?

The joint effort sees BRA operate 100-percent SAF on one of the two Pratt & Whitney turboprop engines during a demonstration flight in early 2022. The other engine will have a blend of 50 percent SAF and 50 percent kerosene, which by current regulations is the maximum blend permitted. Other airframers Boeing and Airbus

have been pushing for pure SAFs as well, which should become available in the mid-2020s.

ATR and Braathens say that 100-percent SAF produced by Finland’s Neste will reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 82 percent over standard jet fuel on a typical BRA route in Scandinavia. In May 2019, the so-called ‘Perfect Flight’ between Halmstad and Stockholm Bromma confirmed that emissions on the ATR 72-600 could potentially be reduced by 80 percent. Fuel consumption per passenger was reduced from 12.8 kilograms to 5.6 kilograms or 46 percent thanks to a mix of SAF produced by Air BP and Neste as well as optimized route navigation. In 2017, a BRA ATR flew between Bromma and Ulmea on a blend of 45 percent SAF.