Indian regional carrier Fly91 has placed a firm order for 40 ATR 72-600 turboprops, in a deal valued at approximately $1 billion. ATR says the agreement is its largest firm order in almost a decade, and the largest ever placed by a regional airline.
According to ATR, deliveries are scheduled between 2027 and 2032. Fly91, officially registered as Just Udo Aviation, currently operates six ATR 72-600s, all sourced through leasing arrangements with Dubai Aerospace Enterprise and TrueNoord.
The airline says the new order establishes a direct-purchase pipeline and, alongside further leases, is expected to take the fleet from six aircraft to more than 60 within five years.
The order was announced on 3 September at a signing ceremony in New Delhi, attended by civil aviation minister Kinjarapu Ram Mohan Naidu, ATR chief executive Nathalie Tarnaud Laude, ATR chief commercial officer Alexis Vidal, Fly91 founder and chief executive Manoj Chacko, and Fly91 chairman Harsha Raghavan.
Fly91 launched commercial operations in March 2024 from its base at Manohar International Airport in Goa. The carrier says it now operates more than 280 weekly flights across 13 destinations, focused on connecting tier 2 and tier 3 cities under India's UDAN regional connectivity scheme, principally across Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and the Lakshadweep Islands.
Chacko said the order marked the catalyst for the airline's next phase of expansion, citing the ATR 72-600's operating economics as suited to Fly91's network. Tarnaud Laude linked the deal to the Indian government's UDAN ambitions, saying the aircraft would help connect underserved communities to affordable, reliable air transport.
ATR says the agreement takes its 2026 order intake to 54 aircraft, already ahead of the manufacturer's total net orders for 2025, with more than three months of the year remaining. The manufacturer describes it as the largest single ATR order since IndiGo's 2017 commitment for 50 ATR 72-600s, which remains its largest order overall.
Citing its own Mobility Monitor data, ATR says that of the roughly 4.6 billion intercity journeys made in India each year, only around 3% are currently by air.
