The France-based regional aircraft manufacturer ATR announced here Thursday plans to expand further into the Chinese aircraft market with a representative office in Beijing.

Avions de Transport Regional, the world leader in the 50 to 70-seater turboprop aircraft, planned to strengthen its cooperation with Chinese airlines, said Filippo Bagnato, chief executive officer, in Beijing.

"We should further strengthen ties with Chinese industry, grow market opportunities in the region, and have a permanent presence in this important market," Bagnato said.
Since 1998, China Southern Airlines Xinjiang Company has been operating five ATR 72-500s, the only turboprop regional aircraft in China.

China, with a population of 1.3 billion, have a total of 784 passenger aircraft, including 76 regional aircraft.  The United States, with a population of less than 300 million, has 8,650 operational passenger aircraft, including 3,200 regional aircraft. The U.S. has 1,534 turboprop regional aircraft.

"In the coming 15 years, the commercial aviation market will expand significantly in China," Bagnato said.  "ATR will supply state-of-the-art aircraft with jet-like comfort."

The revival of the turboprop was due to the soaring price of crude oil, to the growth in regional air traffic, and to pressure on airlines to reduce costs.

"The new generation of ATRs is the right answer to these constraints on the regional market by offering state-of-the-art, reliable and environmentally sensible aircraft with unbeatable economics," Bagnato said.

In the 2005 fiscal year, ATR announced a turnover of 542 million U.S. dollars, an increase of 15 percent compared with 2004.

"This commercial success is evidence of the strong revival of the turboprop aircraft in the regional aviation market," Bagnato said.

European Aeronautic Defense and Space Company (EADS) and Alenia Aeronautica, a division of Finmeccanica of Italy, are equal partners in ATR.

In 1985, the EADS predecessor company Aerospatiale and Xi'an Aircraft Company signed a cooperation agreement on the manufacture of the ATR 42 wing component at Xi'an.

Cooperation increased in 1997 when a second agreement was signed between Xi'an Aircraft Company and Alenia for manufacturing a section of the ATR 72 at Xi'an.

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