The ATR 72 is a modern airliner that was first flown in 1988 and entered service a year later. In the ATR 72-600 version, the machine is 27.17 meters long with a wingspan of approx. 27 meters. The drive is provided by 2 Pratt and Whitney Canada PW127M turboprop engines with a capacity of 2750 KM each. The traveling speed is approx. 510 km / h. The machine is able to carry, depending on the version and configuration of seats, from 68 to 78 passengers. It is estimated that just over 1,000 aircraft of this type had been produced by 2018.
The ATR 72 aircraft was developed by a French-Italian consortium consisting of Aerospatiale and Aeritalia. The machine is an evolutionary development of another aircraft from this consortium, called ATR 42. Compared to its predecessor, the ATR 72 was first of all lengthened, its wingspan was increased, and slightly different power units were used - especially in relation to the first production versions of ATR 42. All these changes made it possible to take more passengers on board, thus improving the economy of operation. In the course of production, many variants of this successful machine were created, including: ATR 72-100 (basic version), ATR 72-200 (version powered by Pratt and Whitney Canada PW124B engines) or ATR 72-600 (version with PW127M engines, significantly modernized electronics and the pilot's cockpit). The ATR 72 aircraft in various versions are operated, inter alia, by airlines from: Algeria, Brazil, India, Indonesia and Ireland.