Congratulating Jet Airways on its new acquisition, chief executive officer of Avions de Transport Regional (ATR) Antoine Bouvier told a group of visiting Indian journalists here, "the airline will benefit immensely by reliable, cost effective short haul regional air transport in the vast Indian market."

Jet Airways will deploy the 64-seater ATR aircraft for flights to Udaipur, Keshod Porbandar, Chandigarh, Bhavnagar, Diu, Belgaum, Vishakhapatnam and Tirupati. Its major hubs like Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore and Hyderabad will also be connected to new short haul destinations on a daily basis, Jet Vice-President (Corporate Affairs) Nandini Varma said, adding that with the induction of all five ATR planes Jet Airways will provide over 200flights daily to 39 destinations across the country.

The Jet Airways' acquisition of the new aircraft has renewed confidence among the ATR top bosses here that Indian Airlines will shortly follow suit by finalising its deal for similar aircraft for deployment in north east and other regions. Though the IA board had agreed in principle to go in for the ATR family of aircraft, it got mired in controversy over whether these planes should be bought at this stage when the airline needed bigger aircraft to make a faster turnaround.

Even while the controversy persisted with the IA, the Government permitted Jet chairman Naresh Goyal to go ahead and operate the new ATR 72-500 aircraft which would form the nucleus of a modern regional aircraft fleet. The aircraft are being acquired by the Jet Airways under an operating lease through Aircraft International Renting Ltd of which major shareholders are TAT s.a. and Credit Agricole Indosuez.

Being the latest version of the popular ATR 72, the new aircraft features asix-blade propeller system and a new cabin interior design. The pressurised aircraft offers significantly reduced cabin noise and vibration as well as increased passenger comfort. The manufacturers said the new Pratt and Whitney engines provided improved performances in terms of take off and landing capabilities in hot and humid conditions.

Making a detailed presentation close to the assembly line, ATR senior vice president Alain Brodin said: "ATR 72-500 were best suited for the north eastern and north western airfields in India. Even airports like Leh, Kulu, Shimla, Dehradun and Surat suited the aircraft." Brodin said he had personally visited these airfields to satisfy himself about their requirement.

Brodin said 119 airports out of a total of 340 airports in India had runways less than 1500 meters. Jet aircraft needed more than 1600 meters to take off or land. The ATR aircraft, however, could land or take off in a runway length of just 1200 meters, he stressed. Explaining about the aircraft's fuelefficiency, Brodin said an ATR aircraft will burn only 500 kg of fuel to go from Delhi to Chandigarh (Rs 9823 fuel cost) whereas a Boeing 737 will burn four times the fuel (costing around Rs 39000).