ATR 72 ATR 72-600

On 2 October 2007 ATR's chief executive, Stéphane Mayer, announced the launch of the 600 series, with first deliveries planned for the second half of 2010. The prototype, converted from an ATR 72-500 — airframe 098, which had been built in 1988 as the ATR 72-202 prototype — first flew on 24 July 2009 at Toulouse carrying the test registration F-WWEY.

It shares certification with the -500 under the ATR 72-212A designation, but changes what you see and what you fly. It has PW127M engines that allow a 5% increase in take-off power through a "boost function" used only when conditions demand it — which opens up airports such as Andorra, with a 1,450 m runway at 800 m of elevation. The flight deck introduces five wide LCD screens in place of the earlier EFIS, a multi-purpose computer (MPC) for flight safety and operational capability, and Thales avionics with Required Navigation Performance (RNP) capability. The cabin gets lighter seats and larger overhead bins.

The figures: 13,010 kg empty, 23,000 kg maximum take-off weight — a thousand more than the -500 — 7,550 kg of payload, 510 km/h cruise and 758 nautical miles (1,404 km) of range with 72 seats at 29-inch pitch. In December 2015 EASA approved a high-density layout that raised the maximum from 74 to 78 seats.

At the Dubai Airshow of November 2021 ATR unveiled the -600 with PW127XT engines, offering 20% lower maintenance cost and 3% lower fuel consumption than the PW127M. By September 2018, 444 had been produced and were operated by 74 carriers, with a backlog of 231 orders; the unit price in 2017 was US$26 million.