Bangkok Airways and ATR have signed a contract for the purchase of four additional ATR 72-600s. The signing ceremony took place at the Singapore Airshow, The $100m deal is valued is part of the airline’s ongoing modernisation of its regional fleet around the ATR 72-600s.

Today, Bangkok Airways operates a fleet of 15 ATR aircraft – nine ATR 72-600s and six ATR 72-500s that are being progressively replaced with the introduction of the new ATR -600s. Deliveries of the four additional aircraft; configured with 70 seats, will take place between October 2018 and March 2019.

Also in Singapore, ATR announced a seal to sell two pre-owned ATR 42-500s to Berjaya Hotels & Resorts, which plans to use the aircraft to launch air services to the Malaysian island of Redang where the hotel group has two resorts.

The two aircraft will be reconfigured with a new interior featuring 36 passenger seats, and will be given a special livery featuring a sea turtle. Berjaya Hotels & Resorts will own the aircraft but they will be operated by its sister company Berjaya Air.

The Asia-Pacific region is ATR’s largest market globally, accounting for over one-third of the global fleet. As of today, around 420 aircraft in the world fleet of almost 1,200 ATRs are in Asia-Pacific. The region ranks first in terms of number of ATRs in operation.

Of the top ten countries in the world, in terms of ATR fleet size, four are in the Asia-Pacific region. The leader is Indonesia with 99 aircraft (ranked first globally), followed by Malaysia with 47 aircraft (fifth), India with 46 aircraft (sixth) and Myanmar with 34 (tenth).

About one half of the ATR order backlog is from operators in Asia-Pacific.