newstodate.aero

Oct 19, 2020 (newstodate): The ATP freighters were long up for sale by West Atlantic that has been the largest operator of this turboprop aircraft with up to 41 units in the air.
   In recent years, most of the fleet was, however, not in the air but stuck on ground as markets increasingly called for larger jet freighter aircraft.
   With the take-over in 2019 of West Atlantic by the Spanish airline group LUSAT in April 2019, a decision was made to finally phase out the ATP fleet entirely by setting up a new Swedish company, Swedish ATP Management AB, owned by LUSAT and managed by Stefan Sundberg as CEO - and the company's sole employee.
   The purpose of Swedish ATP Management is to operate, maintain, and finance the ATP fleet now comprising 24 units.
   -As owner of the ATP fleet, our prime purpose is however to sell the aircraft within two-three years, and we are certainly seeing many inquiries from both European and more exotic customers, says Stefan Sundberg.
   -Also several of the ATP freighters are now operating for West Atlantic on a dry-lease basis on assignments for postal and express companies where the manually-operated large cargo door is a main asset of these aircraft.
   -Competing with newer aircraft types like the ATR, the ATP is older, but operating at low capital costs and perfect for cargo flights lifting 8.5 tonnes - actually more than the ATR freighter.  
   -For operators operating some 2.5-3 hours' short-haul routes on workdays, the ATP makes perfect sense, so I am quite optimistic that we will be able to place the fleet with new customers within the time allotted for the operation, says Mr Sundberg.