India’s Kingfisher Airlines has missed pre-delivery payments on 38 ATR turboprops, triggering an effective cancellation of the order, ATR CEO Filippo Bagnato reported last month during the company’s annual “state of the company” overview in Toulouse. Nevertheless, the development won’t affect ATR’s plans to progressively increase its production rate over the next three years while preparing to add a larger, 90-seat model to its product lineup.
After rolling 54 aircraft off the production line last year, the company plans to manufacture 70 this year, 80 next year and 85 in 2014, while it projects its turnover to increase from $1.3 billion to $2.0 billion per year. It plans to propose the 90-seater model to its shareholders by the end of this year.