FEBRUARY 2008 - N°1

2008 - Tenth Cycle of Regional

Operators Conference:
Sharing The Same Horizon

Jean-Pierre
Cousserans
Success brings
new targets

Spares Support
launched
Astre Program
Talent shows.
www.atraircraft.com
 Contents
Fit Newsletter n°1 - p. 1

Customer
Editorial Services Highlights
Dear Customer, Success Brings ______________________________________________ p.2
New Targets
It is with a real pleasure that I wel- Training
come you all to this first issue of FIT, & Flight Ops
the ATR Customer Services News-
Cruise Performance Monitoring _______________________ p.4
letter. As you know, ATR is living a
FOS WINDOWS 5.0 release
very exciting phase worldwide, with
a significant and renewed interest from the market in our World Wide Training Policy __________________________ p.5
aircraft and support solutions. Getting Closer
Last year again was a record one in terms of aircraft sales, Engineering
with the highest number of airplanes sold since the launch & Technical Support
of the programme, 26 years ago! We are happy that these Focus On ATR Corrosion _________________________________ p.6
successes lead to an enlarged and always more diversified prevention techniques
customer base, which is one of our most important assets.
They also show the continued loyalty and appreciation from Enhanced
existing customers, through a high number of repeat or- Services
ders. There is no doubt that rising fuel costs and environ- Working Together With Hamilton Sundstrand p.8
mental pressure will continue to underline and boost the SB45Rev2 And SB47 Retrofit Plan
attractiveness of the ATR products in the years to come.
Propeller Continuous __________________________________ p.8
What is on offer with ATR goes well beyond all this, with
Maintenance Program
numerous initiatives to respond to your expectations more
globally, and to be an active contributor to your own suc- Spares and
cesses. Use of state-of-the-art technologies on the next logistics
Support
-600 series aircraft, ongoing maintenance programme op-
timisation initiatives, enhanced services, development of Spares Support And Services Launched ____________ p.9
a truly regional support network, all these are very much ASTRE Program
part of the ATR success story!
Aircraft
Of course, such outstanding growth brings new challeng- Technical
es and difficulties. Coping with growing production rates Publications
whilst preserving quality, providing wider support services
ATR | Doc ___________________________________________________ p.10
with an ever-increasing pressure on economics, are only
New Technical Publications Website Dedicated
some of the tasks we have to tackle with a lot of realism
To The ATR Community
and determination. At the same time we do not forget that
one of our most important priority is to provide a sound Focus On Two Important Sections Of An __________ p.11
and effective support to you, our Operators, flying more Airplane Flight Manual (AFM).
than 700 ATRs in the field! All along the way, we wish to,
Diary of up and
we need to receive your precious feedback. coming ATR
This leads me to say a word about the reason behind FIT. events
Our Customer Support and Services Directorate is deeply 4th Vendors _______________________________________________ p.12
engaged in increasing the level of quality and number of Conference Feedback
services, and at the same time, feels the need to improve
the level of communication with operators. This new media
10th Operators __________________________________________ p.12
will incorporate articles covering a wide range of techni-
Conference
cal and operational matters. The objective is to keep you Flight Operations ______________________________________ p.12
better informed about our products, actions, policies or Conference
developments. FIT will channel very diverse information on
a quarterly basis, in a succinct manner to operators as
“FIT“ is a publication of ATR Customer Services - Publisher: Luigi Mollo
well as partners, so as to give the entire ATR community
Editor Advisor: Elizabeth Maulaz
a regularly updated overview of what is being done or is Layout: Groupe Composer - Printer: Imprimerie Pascal
under development. Editorial Board: Elio Baino, Ludovic Borlant, Christophe Gibet, Sébastien Gouaichault,
Tiziana Masullo, Luigi Mollo, Ciro Ottaviano, Julien Pollentier, Vittorio Vacca.
Enjoy your reading!
Feedback:
Stéphane Mayer
Any comments on any of the articles in this issue should be sent to:
Chief Executive Officer fit.newsletter@atr.fr
Customer
Services Highlights
Success Brings
New Targets
Jean-Pierre Cousserans shares with you
his thoughts on how to provide a higher
level support whilst continually adapting
it to market specifics.
■ Why are you launching FIT, a new
ATR Support & Services newsletter?
Over the past years, we created various means
of communication in order to inform all ATR
operators about our products, actions, poli-
cies and developments. We now feel that our
messages would be better highlighted and
more easily referenced if they were channelled
Jean-Pierre Cousserans
Senior Vice-President Customer Services
through in a single publication, dealing with all
aspects of our day-to-day activities. In other
words, we want to simplify the management of
various information sent to ATR operators and
partners for greater impact and simpler filing
for later reference. Finally, this newsletter will
enable us to cover new subjects, logistics sup-
port or training, for instance. Let me say that I
am very excited about this new communication
media. I wish to state that we will more than
welcome feedback from our readers, to ideally
make this newsletter “Fit” even closer to pres-
ent and future expectations.
What are the main priorities for ATR
Customer Services in 2008?
Obviously, the main goal remains to ensure
that our operators are very satisfied with the
ATR aircraft and the way we support them. To
achieve this, we are engaged in several major
projects, all designed to improve the ways of
managing this. So this year, amongst our ob-
jectives, is the continuation of our world expan-
sion policy through strong regional presence,
mainly via additional and strategically located
training centres. Another target is yet a further
enhancement of our logistics support perfor-
mance (spare parts and repairs), in line with
our quite positive trends of 2007. I know that it
is an important aspect of the aircraft manufac-
turer support, expected by many operators; we
are clearly determined to reach another step
in our performance improvement plan during
2008.
Enlarging our services portfolio is another key
development area; some examples are, the
start of the door-to-door service, additional
features on AEROChain, etc. At this point, I wish
to mention a project launched with Luigi Lom-
bardi at the Operations Directorate, regarding
new ways to provide Technical Support. The
objective is to make information more easily
accessible to users whilst, at the same time,
increasing the efficiency and methodology of
all our internal resources.
Of course, even though these projects are
all launched and active, we shall continue to
attentively listen to the operators’ feedback
throughout this year. Based on their com-
 Fit Newsletter n°1 - p. 2/3

ments, the dedicated Customer Liaison Direc-

tors (CLD) will ensure further fine-tuning of
our already revamped custom-tailored support
services offer.
Let me conclude on this point by underlining
once again how crucial the role of the CLDs
is for us. In 2007, the CLDs have managed to
visit at least once almost all our customers -
more than 130 airlines in the world. Each time,
they bring invaluable information back to ATR,
enabling us to keep a clear vision of market
expectations.

How do you see future evolutions within

ATR Customer Services?
Again, the starting point here is to listen to the
operators and understand their needs. In doing ATR Customer Services Management team
so, we have been able to clearly identify and
validate the latest trends on the regional mar- Another major scheme we decided to work on
ket. More airlines are asking for outsourced and which will begin to become evident in the
complete turnkey solutions and not only for next few weeks is regarding a more efficient
traditional services like PBH or heavy mainte- and local support on training and flight opera-
nance. tions. Regional airlines
Together with that, “Our plan is to respond to these are facing new chal-
they expect the same lenges including pilot
expectations in the coming
operating/marketing sourcing, mostly due to
principles (like: single years, by progressively proposing the strong increase of
channel, simplified and new solutions, either developed traffic in various areas
predictable cash man- internally or through partnership of the world. Following
agement, consulting a thorough analysis on
agreements.”
approach, ...) to be ap- this issue, we decided
plied on training, and to launch a vast proj-
maintenance engineering, for instance. ect aiming at providing powerful solutions for
Our plan is to respond to these expectations in the new needs or challenges of the airlines:
the coming years, by progressively proposing pilot screening and provisioning, production
new solutions, either developed internally or of airline operational manuals and more glob-
through partnership agreements. The door-to- ally, assistance to flight operations and training
door subject is a good illustration of this ap- centres. This will materialise shortly, through a
proach. Initially, it was not a priority for ATR. mix of new resources within ATR and a broad
However, a number of airlines pushed for this working partnership with a key player. Of
new service. We took the view we should be course, our customers will be kept informed of
ready to offer it. We are currently in negotia- the evolutions regarding this operative plan.
tions for a number of contracts. Finally, I would like to close my answer by say-
Over the coming years, ATR mean to get closer ing that obviously the implementation of these
still to the MRO providers, through the devel- projects takes into account not only the chal-
opment of a dedicated policy in this area. We lenges faced by ATR, but also the ones faced by
will update our customers on this point later our customers, such as improved cost control,
this year in the next issues of our newsletter, acquisition or retention of key competencies,
for sure! while developing the best long term vision.
I understand that in 2008 ATR is
changing the way Operators Conferences
are to be held. Can you tell us more?
During the last worldwide conference, held
in Athens in March 2006, some airlines rep-
resentatives clearly expressed a preference
for more regional events, instead of one big
worldwide rendez-vous. That way, they would
be able to better share their own experiences
with airlines in similar environments; so, we
-ATR and the involved OEMs- will take care of
customising the topics covered in each con-
ference, to lead to more fruitful discussions.
We have therefore decided to propose a se-
quence of three regional conferences, cover-
ing the three main zones of our markets: For
the Americas, Miami, in April. For European,
Middle East and African operators, Toulouse,
in May. Finally, for Asian operators, Bangkok
in June.
As we want the discussions held then to be
as useful as possible to attending airlines, we
have already started to collect the topics our
customers said they would like to address in
each conference. All the ATR Customer Service
teams, from Toulouse and our three regional
centres (Washington, Singapore and Banga-
lore) really look forward to meeting all our cus-
tomers on these events. ■
 Training
& Flight Ops
A new version of the Flight
Operations Software, so called FOS
WINDOWS 5.0, will be released
early January 2008, introducing
new performance features.
Indeed, a fifth module dedicated to
the Cruise Performance Monitoring
(CPM) has been developed to fulfill
our customers’ requests.
Contact
For any further
information,
please contact:
Véronique Elaphos at
veronique.elaphos@atr.fr
Cruise Performance Monitoring
FOS WINDOWS 5.0 Release
■ This new CPM (Cruise Performance Moni-
toring) module is a valuable tool for the ATR
The CPM Module 5 will complete the ex-
operators willing to assess the eventual de-
isting FOS Software, which now includes
viations in aircraft performance and monitor
the drag trend. It brings better insight to the the following modules:
analysts as they identify engine performance module 1 - Take off and Landing
degradation or fuselage drag and as they un- module 2 - In-Flight Performance
module 3 - Flight Planning
dertake appropriate maintenance actions.
One additional benefit for the operator is the module 4 - En-route Net flight Path
adjustment of fuel loading for a better accuracy module 5 - Cruise Performance
in flight planning for ageing aircraft. Monitoring
The CPM module enables comparison of the
aircraft actual cruise performance measured If you need more information on FOS,
in flight with the theoretical data computed by
please feel free to contact the ATR Flight
FOS. After the CPM analysis, computed devia-
Ops team by emailing to the following
tions for torque, fuel flow and IAS are recorded
address: flight-operations-support@atr.fr
in both “ASCII text” and “Excel CSV” format for
post-processing by operators. More generally, Flight Ops is the dedi-
For aircraft fitted with the Multi Purpose Com- cated interface in the domain of aircraft
puter (MPC), the parameters are recorded au- operations and offers a wide scope of
tomatically during the stabilised cruise phase customer support services such as: op-
and stored in the PCMCIA card of the MPC. The erations upstream assessment, perfor-
downloading of the “Cruise report” files into mance analysis, operational documenta-
FOS is then easily achieved by inserting the tion writing.
card in a laptop. A manual mode for data entry
is available for other aircraft where the mea- Just as we are keen to continually work
surements are to be performed by the crew.
on the latest support techniques, we very
The CPM module will undoubtedly fulfill the
much look forward to being of further
expectations of our operators wishing to easily
service with your ATR operations.
and quickly carry out the performance monitor-
ing of a great number of flights. ■
Computation case
Graph output

World Wide Training Policy
Getting Closer
The Toulouse ATR Training Centre provides
a high level of training services with a full set
of comprehensive training tools, each one adapted
to a specific phase of the learning process. Whilst
both training programs and tools are updated
on a regular basis, standardisation of information
is achieved by concurrently updating contents
via all ATR instructors and by revising the supporting
reading material. This is to give the same message
and the same quality of tuition to all trainees.
Fit Newsletter n°1 - p. 4/5
■ One of our objectives is to maintain a truly
high standard of training and a comprehen-
sive operational support at an affordable price
for all ATR operators, wherever they might be
based.
In order to achieve this objective, we decided
to develop a training hub around the world,
based on the existing Toulouse Training Centre
which is the ATR Master Reference Training
Centre (MRTC).
The MRTC is the International Reference for
Means, Programs, Strategy orientations and
human resources standardisation.
Under the control of the MRTC, the worldwide
training policy will develop a number of Refer-
ence training Centres, (RTCs) around the world.
RTCs will apply the same training programs
and methodology as They MRTC. They will be
the main contact for the airlines in the cor-
responding geographical zone. They have a
direct link with and mirror-image the MRTC,
yet they are better placed to take into account
the local constraints and be in direct contact
with local authorities and airlines.
Today, we are in the process of updating the
Bangkok and Houston ATR training centres in
order to approve them as RTCs. Our next step
is to develop additional RTCs in South Ameri-
ca, India and Asia/Pacific, in cooperation with
local partners.
This major first step in developing our training
and flight operations support through a world-
wide network of RTCs will bring the MRTC ex-
pertise and high standard of services closer to
each one of our customers. Other steps will
follow to be even more efficient with local sup-
port, to be getting always closer to you. ■
Contact
Contact
For any further
information,
please contact:
Tiziana Masullo at
tiziana.masullo@atr.fr
 Engineering
& Technical Support

Focus On ATR Corrosion

Prevention Techniques
When corrosion prevention ■ Historical background At the beginning of the program, the ATR
techniques lead to asset and statistics: design change process was an engineering
Right from the beginning of its Program, the ATR adaptation from other aircraft types. For ex-
management techniques
Structure Department defined a corrosion pre- ample, in the 1970s, manufacturers replaced
not to be ignored! vention process, equivalent to the actual Cor- machined corrosion-prone materials, like
rosion Prevention and Control Program (CPCP), aluminum alloy 7075-T6 or 2024-T3; they
incorporating some significant design modifica- improved adhesive bonding processes, used
tions on the entire ATR family of aircraft. sealants in fastener holes and on faying sur-
faces to control spillages from galley lavatory
ATR 42/72 corrosion prevention design improvement fluids, etc. In the 1980s, designers started to
Improved water draining Retrofit action: change material of flap ribs pay more attention to the drain systems so
70
at frame 44 lower segment that water would be collected away from ar-
Sealant beads between floor panels eas prone to corrosion. In addition, the struc-
60
tural resistance to corrosion was considerably
PR on lower doubler of rear bulkhead Floor structure at rear door areas:
number of key improvements

new AV-DEC products improved with the use of new materials in as-
50 and composite clip-nuts
Applied PR at seat track ends sociation with water repellent products.
in toilet and rear doors area Wing spar caps : 2024T351
replaced with 7175T7351
40 Applied new water repellent
Antenna protection improved In 1993, improvements identified during the
Sealant bead on tank access doors housing
Anchor-nuts replaced with clip-nuts
on floor beams of rear section first “corrosion improvement campaign” were
30
PR sprayed on floor structure,
Aileron and lavatory sill:
significant, but despite their application to
qalley and service door area
Added new seal between
2024T351 replaced with 7175T7351 the entire ATR fleet, corrosion problems still
20
fuselage and dorsal fin Inbd and outbd flaps : change ribs material from 2024T351 showed, notably on ribs of inboard, and out-
Flap cam guides to 7075T351 and add drain holes on rear channel
protection board flaps, on floor beams, on seat tracks and
10 Added new draining holes on stringers
Modified draining
in the door pax areas. For the flaps, a change
Installed nylon nets under insulation blankets
system on door of base material was made from 2024-T3 to
1981 1983 1985 1987 1989 1991 1993 1995 1989 1999 2001 2003 2005 2006 7175-T7351 with added water repellent prod-
year
design starts first a/c delivered corrosion ucts; water drainage was also improved. For
Improvement campain
the floor beams and seat tracks at the door
Above graph describes the nature of such key Operational feedback gave a very clear con- area, an extensive use of new products from
improvements started in 1985, together with their sensus that these improvements, mostly us- AV-DEC Tapes was made, as well as the use
chronology in the overall number of events and in time. ing state-of-the-art techniques, were major of composite clip-nuts. To-date, and since the
improvements indeed. It further highlighted the embodiment of such modifications, very few
benefits gained in working with our manufac- corrosion cases have been reported.
turing partners, Alenia Aeronautica and EADS,
whilst promptly sharing respective findings.

ATR 42/72 reported corrosion findings distribution per structural category

Empennage Engine
Right: Reported corrosion distributon Fus. skin & stringers
3% 1%
on ATR aircraft is as illustrated Flap fittings 8%
4%
in the pie chart. Fus. door surround
Flaps internal structure 7%
10%

Wing access doors

housing 5%
Fus. floor structure
Wing aileron & tab
13%
3%
Wing spars & fitting
8%

Wing upper and Fus. frames &

lower skin bulkheads
8% 13%
Fuel system & NACA
Air Intake Fus. other items
Doors 11%
1% 5%
 Fit Newsletter n°1 - p. 6/7

Environmental conditions of operations

(% of the fleet)

MILD
10 %

MODERATE
35 %

SEVERE
55 %

Above shows the complete historical analysis of all 3563

corrosion cases to-date. It further illustrates the close
correlation between environment and corrosion presence.

% Ratio of corrosion findings versus

environmental conditions Relevance and consequences
of a systematic CPCP:
MILD Undoubtedly, aggressive maintenance not only
17 % mitigates the level of corrosion presence in
ageing aircraft, but largely reduces it. Opera-
SEVERE
54 %
tors must understand that pursuing corrosion
MODERATE prevention from the beginning of the life of the
29 %
aircraft is the most important measure posi-
tively impacting future maintenance costs and
the overall asset value.
Even older airplanes should be submitted to
Highlights the relevance of operators systematically
state-of-the-art corrosion control techniques.
applying aggressive preventive corrosion maintenance.
For example, when galleys and lavatories are
removed, they are often not reinstalled prop-
erly, i.e. not using the latest sealants and water
repellent products. Yet, when corrosion control
techniques as described in the new genera-
tion aircraft maintenance manuals are applied,
then corrosion management becomes very ef-
fective.
Maintenance programs are evolved and de-
veloped for each new type of aircraft, based
on previous experience with similar materials
and structure. Where experience is limited on
new materials or structure, closer monitoring
is done until a sound level of confidence is es-
tablished. Findings dictate time extensions for
inspection intervals during service checks.
In-service experience has shown that there is
a real need to continuously update information
on the structural integrity of new and older air-
craft alike. A Corrosion Prevention and Control
Program (CPCP) is a systematic approach to
achieve the control of corrosion in the primary
structure of an airplane. The prime objective of
a CPCP, limiting deterioration due to corrosion,
is to maintain airworthiness.
Furthermore, educating and training mainte-
nance staff plays an important role when seek-
ing better corrosion management. It is only when
engineers and technicians have fully understood
and integrated all the aspects of aircraft corro-
sion inspection and maintenance, that they will
enable aircraft to be safely and economically
operated beyond their designed life.
In short, timely and effective CPCP maintenance
means maximum airworthiness, extended air-
craft life, preserving optimum asset value.
ATR engineers and other staff continue to work
with this goal in mind, as it remains a key -con-
tributing factor to the success of ATR. ■
Contact
For any information,
please contact:
Salvatore De Martino at
salvatore.demartino@atr.fr
 Enhanced
Services
Working Together With
Hamilton Sundstrand
SB45Rev2 and SB47 Retrofit Plan
Most aircraft equipments are
subject to evolutions during
their life. The purposes of the
evolutions are to improve both
reliability and performance, but
they may also correct in-service
technical issues. ATR, as part of
its customer services mission,
must anticipate, control and
monitor the potential impacts
these modifications may
generate on the ATR fleet.
Contact
For any
further information,
please contact:
Jean-Marc Deville at
jean-marc.deville@atr.fr
It is together that ATR and Hamilton Sund-
strand continually monitored the progress
of this operation to achieve the fastest and
smoothest retrofit possible of the Operators
fleet. ■
Propeller Continuous
Maintenance Program
The main purpose of this program is to
provide ATR Operators with an alterna-
tive to the current TBO maintenance
practices for the 568F-1 type propellers
installed on all ATR –500 series.
This new concept of continuous main-
tenance on the propeller assembly,
■ Further to the technical issues encountered equivalent to the engine «on-condition»
in the ACES fleet in 2002 due to corrosion on program, has been jointly developed by
the propeller blade, Hamilton Sundstrand is- Hamilton Sundstrand and ATR with the
sued a first mandatory service bulletin (SB36) Operators through the MRB working
in order to improve the corrosion protection on group.
the 568F propeller, followed by ASB45 modi- In October 2007, upon an ATR initia-
fication campaign. To render blades inspect- tive and after having jointly defended
able, the SB47 modification campaign was the project in front of the Airworthiness
launched, its aim being to facilitate blade root Authorities, Hamilton Sundstrand finally
inspection during major inspection. set up the conditions and relevant pub-
This was the main purpose of the famous RS lications to allow the relief of the current
10 Retrofit. TBO limitations.
In order to minimise the impact of this ret- Now, at its own discretion, each Opera-
rofit, taking into account the high quantity of tor can decide to go through the con-
propeller affected and the 31st of December tinuous maintenance program (CMP) or
2007 deadline, ATR closely worked with Ham- follow the Hamilton Sundstrand Service
ilton Sundstrand. The main objective was to Information Release n° 568F-024A re-
set up a pool of solutions to provide all Opera- quirements.
tors with the required assistance during the ATR is the first aircraft manufacturer
retrofit period and comply with airworthiness to propose such an innovative mainte-
requirements. nance program on a propeller, bringing
Action Plan: its complete propulsion system to a
state-of-the-art maintenance philosophy
– On a free of charge basis, Hamilton set up
a sufficient pool of blades to supply enough and technology.
spares for Operators to continue operations Even if it is too early for releasing ac-
during the modification campaign. curate figures, ATR is convinced that
– On all the blades removed before the 8100 this will provide enhanced maintenance
flight hours limit, Hamilton Sundstrand proposed flexibility, with substantial maintenance
pro-rata discounts on the major inspection flat costs advantages.
rate, as compensation for potential losses.
 Spares and
logistics
Support
Spares Support and Services Launched
ASTRE Program
ATR means to continue to optimise
the service level of its spares
activity with the ASTRE Program.
■ In 2004 the ATR Customer Support Depart-
ment dealt with some degradation of the service
level performance due to delays on the availabil-
ity of spare parts on order, for sale or standard
exchange and subsequently to an insufficient
support of third working parties. In 2005, in
order to promptly and drastically improve the
ATR spares services, the Spares Department
launched the ASTRE Program.The ASTRE Pro-
gram was defined and constructed around six
major guidelines (as per boxes below) in three
major phases of implementation.
Short term actions Spares sourcing
2006
actions plan
2006 - 2007
Medium term actions Logistics
strategic plan
2008 - 2009
Long term actions Adequate IT system for the strategic re-engineering plan:
SAP implementation
2006: Implementation of defined
short-term actions
BPR (Business Process Re-engineering)
New organization for quicker responses
Having reviewed the Spares Business Pro-
cesses, the need to put into place a different
support chain was identified. As a result, a new
Spares Organisation was established. Its role is
to focus where evidently high value competen-
cies are required for first-class performance:
Front Office / AOG desk, sourcing, engineer-
ing, forecasts and stock management. A single
channel point was thus established with the
Front Office, dealing with each and every type
of customer request on spares. This covers
spare part sales (new and second hand), as-
sociated services such as repairs, standard
exchanges or recertification queries, etc.
SRTF (Spares Recovery Task Force)
The objective of this task force was to im-
prove spares support performance through a
weekly monitoring of dedicated key indica-
tors, in accordance with the defined short-
term actions plan in force within the new
Spares Organisation.
Spares Sourcing actions plan Supplier
Performance
The excellence of sourcing is a key point where
very strong customer support performance
can be achieved. Major steps were taken
to improve lead-times and services from our
suppliers, with the aim of not only speeding up
ASTRE Program Actions
Spares Recovery Business Process
Task Force Re-engineering
Service level Stock
Improvement Management
Improvement
the delivery of newly ordered spare parts with
added readiness on ATR shelves, but also to
reduce back orders as fast as possible.
2006-2007: implementation of two
medium term actions
Logistics strategic plan
For added efficiency and in order to benefit
from the most experienced organisations in
logistics, ATR Customer Support selected
trading partners for each type of logisti-
cal task (warehousing, customs, transport).
ATR reviewed the evolution of its distribution
network and relocated some of its existing
worldwide warehouses, in France and in Sin-
gapore, for example. In February 2007, it also
opened a new distribution centre in Auckland.
Fit Newsletter n°1 - p. 8/9
ATR is furthering the growth of its Distribution
Centres, with New Delhi being next in line, to
cover India.
Stock management improvement -
APS implementation
(went-live on August 2007)
A new forecasting and stock management
system was selected. This latest tool allows
more frequent forecasts whilst improving their
reliability, enabling ATR to truly monitor stock
levels and parts requirements worldwide.
Experienced use of such software helps to
maintain appropriate and sufficient stocks on
shelves in the right places, meeting more pre-
cisely all customers’ needs.
2008 through to 2009:
IT re-engineering with SAP
implementation
The transfer of our current SPAS IT system
to SAP is in progress. The main interests in
SAP are:
– Added reliability of all our data through a
single common database
– A new generation IT system with integrated
technology better suited to web applications
and to later developments of new support
services
– A single worldwide IT system.
The ASTRE Program so far has led to the
introduction of new internal infrastruc-
tures and updated technologies, to better
suppliers’ performance, to seamless oper-
ations, all resulting in achieving its prime
goal: ever increasing support and services
levels. ■
Contact
For any
further information,
please contact:
Christophe Gibet at
christophe.gibet@atr.fr
 Aircraft
Technical
Publications

ATR | Doc
New Technical Publications Website Dedicated
To The ATR Community
Close to your needs:
This website will provide a valuable support
to customers needing to reduce information
look-up time and optimise their work.

Timely Communication:
By providing a full access to all related docu-
ATR | Doc ments to Technical Publications.
Home page
Company Data:
This module provides information such as:
www.atrdoc.com – LAP (List of Applicable Publications). It can be
consulted, printed and used as an official docu-
ment for audit purposes.
– The subscription report summarises, via the
same direct access, the extent and the utilisation
of the subscription (number of manuals ordered,
addresses they are sent to, formats, etc.)

List of Applicable Publications
ATR|Doc was designed with the
aim of offering the best-integrated
solution to all our users so that
they find all the information
needed to use Tech Publications
in a one-stop easy access. For our
customers, this means complete
and immediate visibility of their
own documentation from aircraft
entry into service.
Contact
For any further
information,
please contact:
Birke Human at
birke.human@atr.fr
Service Bulletins
documentation viewer
■ ATR|Doc is the new working site dedicated
to Aircraft Technical Publications for ground
support management & operational teams.
This application provides appropriate and ac-
curate information & services for users.
User friendly:
Easy administration & secured access.
The ATR Contact leader (selected by the cus-
tomer) is responsible for:
– defining roles within his group of users and
for allocating them to specific individuals. There
is no limit on the number of users as long as
these users are part of the airline staff.
– providing each user with a logon and per-
sonal password matching each specific pro-
file. This allows confidentiality of information
through different access levels.
New ergonomics:
Sharp ergonomics for a simple and direct ac-
cess to essential data frequently required.
Documentation Consultation:
This now gives the possibility of accessing all
customised documentationfor flight and main-
tenance purposes (upon subscription).
Visibility: Latest revisions are immediately
available, upon receipt of an email notification.
In addition, an enhanced Service an email no-
tification. Bulletin Log is available for consulta-
tion, showing the latest releases with an easy
search mode.
Live Support:
Allows users to submit, consult and follow up
technical or commercial queries via a simple
and easy graphic user interface.
To be added on-line soon:
– Temporary revisions, cockpit doc, technical
advanced copies.
– FAQ - Frequent Asked Questions: A list of
your most often asked questions along with
the answer will be provided.
– In addition MROs and Regulatory Authorities
will soon be given access to ATR|Doc.
ATR strongly encourage all users to share
comments and suggestions with our teams,
because one of our missions is to continue de-
veloping services which optimise the efficiency
of our customers’ daily operations. ■

Focus On Two Important Sections Of An
Airplane Flight Manual (AFM)
The two sections can be found in
part 7, Appendices in chapter 7-01
and Supplements in chapter 7-02.
In 2007, during routine revisions of
the Appendices and Supplements,
the numbering was harmonised
in order to find a given data in the
same section. Chapter 7-01 and
7-02 were sliced so as to ease
CD/Internet navigation with one file
per Appendix/Supplement, instead
of one file for both chapters.
For example, the Appendix dealing
with “Steep Slope Approach”
is still in section 7-01-05.
The complete list of Appendices and
Supplements can be found
in the chapter 7-00.
Some Appendices / Supplements
may nor may not be allowed,
depending on which of the three
regulatory authorities, EASA, FAA
or TC (Transport of Canada) AFMs
are registered under. For example
“Despatch with one TQ indicator
inoperative - 7-02-09” is allowed by
EASA but is not allowed
by the FAA and TC.
Appendices:
■ They deal with all special operations, ex-
cept with two of them, named: noise limitations
(7-01-01) and Configurations Deviation List
(ref CDL below). In each other special opera-
tions Appendices you will find specific “Gen-
eral / Limitations / Procedures / Performances”
information on the corresponding operations.
Generally these special operations are optional
(i.e. needing a non-standard modification or
Service Bulletin application). We could describe
each Appendix as a mini AFM containing the
latest amendments to the main AFM.
It is often needed to obtain the necessary lo-
cal authorisation to perform special operations.
In some cases, a special operation requires a
change in aircraft configuration. For example,
“Steep App” pushbutton, structural reinforce-
ment for unpaved runways...
When applicable, ATR releases operational
documentation, and in particular Appendices,
are released as soon as the purchase of an
Service Bulletin (SB) is confirmed by an op-
erator.
This is to allow the customer to prepare for
future operations. But in no way is it to allow
him to perform operations before an effective
SB application date, or before obtaining local
authorisation.
Combination of appendices may be allowed
but it must be discussed on a case-by-case
basis between operator and its local authority.
Supplements:
They deal with aircraft despatchability. They
are complementary to the MMEL giving, when
applicable, all necessary “Limitations / Pro-
cedures / Performances” information for the
associated despatch case. In any event, these
Supplements are applicable only to the extent
allowed by the MMEL regarding: repair interval
Fit Newsletter n°1 - p.10/11
category, provisos and operational or mainte-
nance specified procedures.
More precisely, they must be used only in ac-
cordance with the operator MEL specifications,
this is because, when requiring the relevant
local authorities agreement, some combina-
tions of Supplements may be forbidden by
those regulatory authorities. A list of forbidden
combination of Supplements can be found in
chapter 7-02-00.
CDL (Configuration Deviation List)
The CDL 7-01-02 lists some secondary air-
frame parts, without which aircraft remain
airworthy.
It should not be confused with the MMEL ap-
plying to items on which safe deviation to the
certified configuration is always limited in time
(Repair Interval Category) and comes under
well-established provisos and/or specific op-
erational/maintenance procedures.
With the CDL, there is no Repair Interval Cate-
gory but there may be some specific limitations
for some items regarding either the number of
items required or the operations conditions. In
any case, operators must follow the two ATR
instructions below:
“Repairs or replacements must be done at the
first station where appropriate facilities are
available, and in any case at the main base”.
“No more than one part for any ATA chapter
in the CDL may be missing unless specifically
designated combinations are indicated - Un-
less otherwise specified, parts from other ATA
chapters may be missing”. (Extracted from
AFM). ■
Contact
For any further
information,
please contact:
Sébastien Gouaichault at
sebastien.gouaichault@atr.fr
 Diary of up and
coming ATR
events

4th Vendors
Conference - Feedback
well aware of their performance shortages;
the keenness they showed during those two
days showed they clearly understand the
high stakes of “market satisfaction”. They
acknowledged that improvements are man-
datory if they want to stay competitive and
remain involved with ATR’s current and future
developments. ■

Coming Soon...

ATR held its fourth vendors
conference in Toulouse, on the 19th
and 20th of September 2007. During
these two days, ATR presented to all
the major OEMs the current stakes
and future expectations of the
market. Delivery performance, cost of
ownership and communication were
part of our messages delivered
during this conference.
■ Since the last vendor conference held
during the 2005 Le Bourget Air Show, ATR’s
activity has been significantly ramping up and
the average ATR aircraft utilisation in the field
has also noticeably increased. Therefore, this
4th vendors conference was the opportunity
to re-stress the importance of OEM perfor-
mance, mainly from the customer support
activity and to clearly remind our OEMS of the
commitments they contracted to, through the
Contact
For any further
information,
please contact:
Ludovic Borlant at
ludovic.borlant@atr.fr
ATR Product Support Agreement.
During the preparation of this conference, ATR
performed an Operator survey on a panel of Op-
erators representing 25% of the in service air-
craft fleet on top of the share of the fleet covered
via the ATR GMA services. The main purpose of
this survey was to have the Operator feedback
on the performance of the main ATR’s OEMs on
five criteria: Product, Customer Care, Spares,
Repair Services and Cost of ownership.
Thanks to 20 contributors, we were able to
present the vendor community with their over-
all performance and pointed out the various
areas for necessary improvement. The gen-
eral message was that OEMS do provide good
products but with a poor level of support.
In addition to this survey, we would like to in-
vite all our Operators to contact ATR vendor
monitoring department, as frequently as nec-
essary, when they consider that a customer
support issue is not well handled by an OEM
or is not taken care of as it should be. Then,
we will be glad to assist you and we will set up
an action plan with the OEM to get back to a
satisfactory situation.
In a proactive manner, a set of OEM perfor-
mance indicators is being defined. It will help
ATR to better monitor OEM support perfor-
mances and take appropriate corrective ac-
tions prior to Operator complaints.
The general feedback we have from this con-
ference is that, in most cases, our OEMs are
10th Operators
Conference
■ This year, in response to many custom-
ers’ comments wishing to have smaller and
more interactive gatherings, there will be
three different venues for the same event.
– 22 to 24 April 2008 Miami
– 27 to 29 May 2008 Toulouse
– 17 to 19 June 2008 Bangkok
These venues were selected to better
cover the obvious regional specificities of
ATR operations.
It will be the time to review the issues
raised during the last conference and
their implementations. The numerous ATR
challenges brought about notably by the
remarkable growth of aircraft sales will
also be debated. In addition, this 10th
Operators conference is an ideal time for
customers to meet others and exchange
points of view. ■
Flight Operations
Conference
■ Towards the end of the year, a single
worldwide conference dedicated to ex-
changes between your Operations Depart-
ment and our Training Center/Flight Oper-
ations support teams is being planned. ■
Contact
For any further
information, please
contact: Ciro Ottaviano at
ciro.ottaviano@atr.fr
 Fit Newsletter n°1 - p.12/13

ATR Aircraft facts

and figures:
Status Delivered Backlog Total
(31st December, 2007)
ATR 42-300 289 0 289
ATR 42-500 108 20 128
ATR 72-200 187 0 187
ATR 72-500 171 175 346
Fleet Total 755 195 950

ATR 42 -300/-500 series

at July 2007
Average flight time (mins) 54
Average daily utilisation (hours) 4,80
Fleet Total Flight Hours 8,978,253
Fleet Total Cycles 10,102,197
Dispatch Reliability 99,6% 6-mo. Avg.

ATR 72 -200/500 series

at July 2007
Average flight time (mins) 51
Average daily utilisation (hours) 4,32
Fleet Total Flight Hours 6,137,461
Fleet Total Cycles 7,179,154
Dispatch Reliability 99,6% 6-mo. Avg.

FIT can also be found on the

ATR Customer Services Portal
www.aerochain.com
ATR Applications > Community > Brochures
© ATR Customer Services and Support
FIT Newsletter is published by
ATR Customer Services
Tel: +33 56221 6985
Fax: +33 56221 6222
fit.newsletter@atr.fr

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