ATR is now offering its Armonia cabin interior as a linefit option for new customers of its Series 500 turboprops.
Developed by Italian design house Giugiaro Design for the Series 600, Armonia features cleanly-styled slim seats that have been ergonomically designed to ensure greater knee clearance, in addition to new side panels, overhead bins and LED lighting. Drop-down in-flight entertainment (IFE) is offered as an option. ATR does not offer in-flight connectivity linefit as yet.
Speaking to FlightglobalPro today, ATR revealed that five ATR 72-500s "now going out from the factory" are being equipped with Armonia for Indonesian carrier Wings Air, a regional subsidiary of Lion Airlines.
"We still call this aircraft the -500," said the ATR spokesman, who noted: "The Series 600 has everything, which of course includes the new [glass] cockpit [in addition to Armonia]."
He added that a retrofit of Armonia can be accomplished, although it has not been done "yet".
To date, ATR has sold 220 Series 600 aircraft. Royal Air Maroc and more recently Brazilian carrier Azul have begun taking delivery of ATR 72-600s. Passengers are responding very favourably to the Armonia cabin, and to ATR's new generation turboprops overall, according to the airframer.
"We wanted to go in the direction of passengers' expectations [with Armonia]," said customisation director Pierre Tiefenbach during today's interview. "But we also took into account the needs of the airlines around the world. For the US, it was very important to have the possibility to provide the cabin in a dual class configuration, which is why we [offer] a first class interior on the Armonia cabin."
Source: Air Transport Intelligence news
