ATR 42

The ATR 42 is a regional airliner produced by Franco-Italian manufacturer ATR, with final assembly in Toulouse, France. On 4 November 1981, the aircraft was launched with ATR, as a joint venture between French Aérospatiale (now part of Airbus) and Aeritalia (now Leonardo S.p.A.). The ATR 42-300 performed its maiden flight on 16 August 1984 and type certification was granted during September 1985. Launch customer Air Littoral operated its first revenue-earning flight in December of that year.

The high-wing airliner is powered by two turboprop engines, Pratt & Whitney Canada PW120s. The number "42" in its name is derived from the aircraft's original standard seating capacity of 42 passengers. Later variants are upgraded with new avionics, a glass cockpit, and newer engine versions. The ATR 42 is the basis for the stretched ATR 72, introduced in October 1989.

During the 1960s and 1970s, European aircraft manufacturers had, for the most part, undergone considerable corporate restructuring, including mergers and consolidations, as well as moving towards collaborative multinational programmes, such as the newly launched Airbus A300. In line with this trend towards intra-European co-operation, French aerospace manufacturer Aérospatiale and Italian aviation conglomerate Aeritalia commenced discussions on the topic of working together to develop an all-new regional airliner. Prior to this, both companies had been independently conducting studies for their own aircraft concepts, the AS 35 design in the case of Aerospatiale and the AIT 230 for Aeritalia, to conform with demand within this sector of the market as early as 1978.

On 4 November 1981, a formal co-operation agreement was signed by Aeritalia chairman Renato Bonifacio and Aerospatiale chairman Jacques Mitterrand in Paris. This agreement signaled not only the merger of their efforts, but also of their separate concept designs together into a single complete aircraft design for the purpose of pursuing its development and manufacture as a collaborative joint venture. The consortium then targeted a similar unit cost, but a 430 kg (950 lb) fuel consumption over a 200 nmi (370 km; 230 mi) sector, nearly half the 790 kg (1,750 lb) required by its 40-50 seat competitors, the British Aerospace HS.748 and Fokker F.27, and planned a 58-seat ATR XX stretch.

This agreement served not only as the basis and origins of the ATR company, but also as the effective launch point of what would become the fledgling firm's first aircraft, which was designated as the ATR 42. By 1983, ATR's customer services division has been set up, readying infrastructure worldwide to provide support for ATR's upcoming aircraft to any customer regardless of location. On 16 August 1984, the first ATR 42 conducted its maiden flight from Toulouse Airport, France. During September 1985, both the French Directorate General for Civil Aviation (DGCA) and the Italian Italian Civil Aviation Authority awarded type certification for the type, clearing it to commence operational service.

On 3 December 1985, the first production aircraft, designated as the ATR 42-300, was delivered to French launch customer Air Littoral, with the first revenue service, between Béziers Cap d'Agde Airport and Paris Orly airport taking place on 23 December. During January 1986, already confident of the ATR 42's success and of the demand for an enlarged version of the aircraft, ATR announced that the launch of a programme to develop such an aircraft, which was designated as the ATR 72 to reflect its increased passenger capacity.

By the end of 1986, the ATR 42 had accumulated a sizable backlog of orders, which in turn led to a ramping up of the type's rate of production. During August 1988, ATR's marketing efforts in the lucrative North American market resulted in the securing of a large order of 50 ATR-42-300s from US operator Texas Air Corporation; that same year, another American regional carrier, Trans World Express, received the 100th production aircraft. On 1 July 1989, ATR opened their new global training centre for the type in Toulouse, which provided centralised and modern facilities for the training to airline staff and other personnel across the world. During June 1999, the ATR global training center became one of the first European institutions to be recognised as a Type Rating Training Organization, as defined by the Joint Aviation Authorities.

During September 1989, ATR announced it had achieved its original target of 400 sales of the ATR. That same year, deliveries of the enlarged ATR 72 commenced; shortly thereafter, both types commonly were ordered together. Since the smaller ATR 42 is assembled on the same production line as the ATR 72, along with sharing the majority of subsystems, components, and manufacturing techniques, the two types support each other to remain in production. This factor may have been crucial, as by 2015, the ATR 42 was the only 50-seat regional aircraft that was still being manufactured.