ATR sees potential for up to 300 additional aircraft in India, on top of the 70 aircraft currently operating in the market, chief executive Nathalie Tarnaud Laude has said, as the manufacturer’s turboprop trial with US regional operator JSX also expands.

Speaking exclusively to Aviation Business News at the Farnborough International Airshow 2026, Tarnaud Laude said ATR’s current production capacity, which she put at up to 60 aircraft a year, would need to be reviewed if order volumes from India reached the scale under discussion. No decision on additional assembly capacity has been taken.

In the United States, ATR is running a trial with JSX under Part 135 rules, targeting replacement of ageing 50-seat regional jets. Tarnaud Laude said early customer response to the trial, which includes island-configuration seating, had been positive.

Around 300 regional jets have been retired in the US since the Covid-19 pandemic, with further retirements expected, Tarnaud Laude said, and around a third of communities served by such aircraft could lose service as a result.

The India and US developments come as ATR targets a 20% increase in aircraft deliveries for 2026, following the delivery of 32 aircraft in 2025 and the reopening of the manufacturer’s northern final assembly line. Tarnaud Laude said inputs into the assembly line had risen more than 50% since the start of the year compared with the same period in 2025, driven by increased flow from aerostructure and equipment suppliers.

Outstanding work packages, components arriving late and requiring out-of-sequence installation, had been reduced by 40% in the first half of the year, she said, with a further 40% reduction targeted to bring the rework backlog back to normal levels.

On market conditions, Tarnaud Laude said elevated fuel prices linked to the crisis in the Middle East had prompted some long-haul operators feeding ATR’s regional network to cut flights, though some European customers had shifted capacity from jets to turboprops in response to fuel costs.

Asked about competition from new entrants including Deutsche Aircraft’s D328eco, Tarnaud Laude said the aircraft would compete with ATR’s 42-seat model in a niche market, but would not compete with ATR’s larger 72-seat aircraft, which she described as the company’s main market.

ATR is also participating in the EU-backed Clean Aviation programme, developing a hybrid-electric technology demonstrator under the Heracles/Diverdi initiative with Leonardo, Airbus and a Canadian engine partner. Tarnaud Laude said the programme would test technology building blocks, including a battery management system and a new turboprop engine, ahead of flight testing planned for 2029. A decision on launching a hybrid-electric aircraft programme would follow the 2029 test campaign, with a launch decision expected around the mid-2030s.