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Air Nostrum Inks First 'ATR-600 series' Global Maintenance Agreement

15^th January 2010	Print this article
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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.”

About the GMA

The Global Maintenance Agreement (GMA) represents the extensive and flexible maintenance services package ATR offers to the Operators in order to assist them during aircraft operations and reduce maintenance costs. As an aircraft manufacturer ATR has built a unique expertise offering the Customer the most cost efficient solutions to outsource their "on" and "off" aircraft maintenance requirements.

About Air Nostrum:

Air Nostrum leads the regional aviation in Spain and is one of the bigger regional airlines in Europe. With 100% private capital, Air Nostrum is an exclusive franchise of Iberia’s group and belongs to the Oneworld Alliance. The airline counts over 2.000 employees, operates more than 153.000 annual flights to 67 destinations, and has more than 120 different routes. Air Nostrum carries 5,2 million passengers per year, and reaches an annual turnover of more than € 630 million. Air Nostrum is the only regional European airline awarded four times with the "Airlines of the Year" award (Golden Category), granted by ERA (European Regions Airline Association).

About ATR:

The regional aircraft constructor ATR, whose head office is in Toulouse, is the world leader in the 50 to 74-seat turboprop market. ATR is an equal partnership between Alenia Aeronautica (Finmeccanica Group) and EADS. In 2008, ATR recorded a record turnover of 1.3 billion dollars. ATR is certified ISO 14001, the worldwide standard in the environment field.

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