Hamburg, 5th April, 2016 – The leading turboprop aircraft manufacturer ATR and the France-based aircraft seat manufacturer Expliseat today signed a buyer-furnished equipment (BFE) agreement for the supply of a new ATR aircraft seat type: the Titanium Seat. The agreement, inked on the occasion of the Aircraft Interiors Expo in Hamburg, enables ATR’s customers and operators to have a broader choice when configuring their aircraft cabin layouts.

The new Titanium seat allows airlines to save up to 300 kg when compared to current ATR ‘-600 series’ cabin configuration. These new seats will enable to get substantial fuel savings and to further enhance payload capacity and operational flexibility at short runways or at hot and high environments. In addition, the new Titanium seats feature only 30 parts per seat, thus reducing their maintenance costs. The Titanium seats are provided as an option for new aircraft, and are also available for all ATR aircraft types in retrofit.

Air Tahiti is the launch customer of this new cabin solution, with an entry into service of the Titanium seats on a retrofitted ATR aircraft in May 2016. The seats will be available on new ATR aircraft produced at the ATR manufacturing plant by the end of the year.

Commenting on the deal, Benjamin Saada, Chief Executive Officer of Expliseat, declared: “We are proud of having been selected as a new supplier of ATR and to bring our new and lightweight seats into the most popular regional aircraft of the market”.

David Brigante, ATR’s Senior Vice-President Procurement highlighted that

“the aim is to provide our operators with a broader scope of customization possibilities. The signature of this contract perfectly fits into our philosophy of continuous improvement of our aircraft, its performances and the services we bring to the 200 airlines operating ATRs worldwide”.