Air Nostrum Inks 1st 'ATR-600 series' Global Maintenance Agreement

(Toulouse, January 15, 2010) -- Spanish carrier Air Nostrum and ATR today announced the signature of a Global Maintenance Agreement (GMA), valued at some US $ 25 million, for the supply of spare parts and maintenance services for the brand new fleet of 10 ATR 72-600 that the airline will introduce in 2011. Under this 10-year contract, which is the first concerning new 'ATR -600 series' aircraft, ATR will handle the complete management of the equipment, including the repair of line replaceable units (LRUs) and the maintenance and availability of propellers. ATR will also handle the management of the advanced exchange pool services, plus an inventory of spare parts on lease at Air Nostrum's premises. With the signature of this agreement, Air Nostrum will mainly take advantage of guaranteed spares availability and reduced maintenance costs. The airline will additionally benefit from simplified maintenance procedures, with ATR as single channel.

Air Nostrum currently counts 5 ATR 72-500s among its fleet, which are already covered by a GMA. According to the fleet renewal and capacity expansion programme of the airline, these 5 72-500s will be progressively replaced with the introduction of the brand new ATR '-600s'.


Commenting on the signature of this GMA, Carlos Bertomeu, Chief Executive Officer of Air Nostrum, declared: "We are very satisfied of our ten-year partnership with ATR, also in the field of maintenance support. Then, we consider that the extension of our GMA to our brand new ATR '-600 series' fleet is a normal step of our long-term and fruitful relationship." He added: "We clearly appreciate the huge support provided by ATR for the operation of our aircraft, and their ability to provide the right answer to our operation and maintenance needs in the shortest time".

Jean-Pierre Cousserans, ATR SVP Customer Services, declared: "We are honored with the renewal of the confidence of Air Nostrum, and we are particularly delighted because this is the very first GMA covering the maintenance of ATR '-600 series' aircraft." He added: "We count today more than 200 ATRs covered by Global Maintenance Agreements. We are glad to provide our customers with our expertise as aircraft manufacturer, which coupled with our ability to handle logistic support facilities worldwide, represent two main points of the success of our customer support activities."

Source : ATR Aircraft - an Alenia Aeronautical and EADS joint venture