ATR´s in AFRICA

[migair54]

Who is operating ATR´s in Africa???

I recently saw that Libya is going to operate 2 of them, who else??

RAM express
Precission Air
Overland Aiways
Pelican Air
Air Botswana
SevenAir
Antrak Air
Fly540

this plane is becoming very popular in the Area,

Are they changing the old Dash planes for new ATR´s??

[Phobos2]

seems to be the in thing right now,i think precision air has the most. crj's are also on the rise

[jetpet]

most are operating the ATR 42 which is now old and has become quite the unreliable one....and icing can be a real pain if boots not refitted...apart from the new ATR 72s, think dash 8 is still going to remain popular....

[Soap Box Cowboy]

At Precision we got four new 72-500's another one comming next year, plus two new 42-500's. We still got one 72-200 and a couple of 42-320's which are a bit long in the tooth, they will be phased out when newer aircraft come.

Think the Dash8 especially the 100, 200 series are popular here because they are better at dealing with unprepared runways, main gears being spread out further offering a better footprint and metal rather than carbon fiber body sections. But the 42-500 beats even the Dash 300 in terms of speed and payload, looking forward to getting hold of that little racer and putting it through it's paces :E

[EladElap]

Air Algerie operates a few 72's
Solenta aviation operate for Pelican as well as DHL in west africa with a few 42's too...

[migair54]

ATR 42-300 are not unreliable, but the new model are better, because they are more powerful and more confortable.

If some airlines are buying, renting, leasing ATR42-300 is because the new models are really hard to find.

The 42 is perfect for short runways and even unprepared, The plane has great performances.

About the ice......well maybe is not the best, if the boots are not refitted then just avoid icing conditions.

In fact the ATR42-300 burn less fuel and is not much slower.

I read today that 2 ATR´s are heading to Libya,

[Soap Box Cowboy]

The 42-300 is definetly not unreliable, especially with those PW engines, but having an older aircraft which has a long history of flying to unprepared runways does great a maintenance hungry aircraft. Flying into a wet dirt strip often clogs up the switches on the main gear, solution is pretty simple, just get the fire truck and hose off the mud, otherwise you can't retract your gear.

I'm glad she's so reliable, in Precision I hear we are one of if not the worlds highest utiliser of both the 42 and 72 in terms of hours flown per day. The replacement of our older models has worked greatly towards improving our on time performance, less snags as you would expect from newer aircraft.

Having said that, the -300 does leave something to be desired in terms of cooling, I hear it's a common complaint, the -500's are a great improvment on this, much better for the crew and pax.

We could never figure out why there are no windows in the cockpit which you could open, would make life so much more comfortable, it's a preasure cooker in there in the tropics after even a few minutes after shutdown.

[Phobos2]

a decent cockpit seat won't hurt either(b:mad:bu is enough discomfort )

[27ace]

Hi all,

Was in Tripoli (HLLT) this morning and the two brand new ATR42-500's were on ground in Libyan Airlines livery. Did not have my camera handy though, pity.

27ace.