FLY91 Places Historic $1-Billion Order for 40 ATR Aircraft to Expand Regional Connectivity

Goa-based regional airline FLY91 has placed a firm order for 40 ATR 72-600 turboprop aircraft in a deal valued at around $1 billion, marking one of the largest fleet commitments yet by an Indian regional carrier. The order was announced by FLY91 and ATR on September 3, 2026, with deliveries scheduled between 2027 and 2032.

ATR says the agreement is its largest firm order in almost a decade and the largest order ever placed with the manufacturer by a regional airline. The deal also takes ATR’s 2026 order intake to 54 aircraft, already exceeding its total net orders for the whole of 2025.

For FLY91, the order represents a dramatic expansion of its original regional-airline model. The carrier currently operates six aircraft and plans to grow to more than 60 aircraft over the next five years. That would transform FLY91 from a relatively small regional operator into one of the country’s more significant dedicated short-haul aviation networks.

The airline, operated by Just Udo Aviation Private Limited, is headquartered in Goa and currently focuses on Tier-2 and Tier-3 connectivity. Its network includes destinations such as Pune, Sindhudurg, Solapur, Jalgaon, Hubballi, Tirupati, Vijayawada, Rajahmundry and Agatti, alongside larger centres including Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Kochi and Goa. ATR says the airline is operating more than 280 weekly flights across 13 destinations.

The decision to stay with the ATR 72-600 reflects the economics of regional flying in India. Unlike larger narrow-body jets designed for high-density trunk routes, turboprops are particularly suited to shorter sectors and airports where passenger volumes may not justify larger aircraft. ATR says the 72-600 has lower fuel consumption and operating costs than comparable regional jets, characteristics that can be important when airlines are trying to maintain affordable fares on thinner routes.

This operating model is central to FLY91’s strategy. Rather than competing primarily for major metropolitan routes, the airline is attempting to connect smaller cities directly with regional economic centres. Such routes can reduce dependence on long road or rail journeys and eliminate the need for passengers to travel through major aviation hubs merely to reach another Tier-2 or Tier-3 city.

FLY91 founder, Managing Director and CEO Manoj Chacko said the airline was created around the idea of building a dedicated regional network for emerging Indian cities. He described the 40-aircraft order as the catalyst for the airline’s next phase of expansion and said the ATR 72-600’s economics were particularly suited to the network FLY91 intends to build.

The order also fits closely with the Government of India’s push to broaden air connectivity beyond the largest metropolitan areas. Civil Aviation Minister Kinjarapu Ram Mohan Naidu, speaking at the announcement, said regional connectivity remained an important part of India’s aviation growth and linked investments such as FLY91’s fleet expansion with the government’s UDAN 2.0 plans for bringing more Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities into the national air network.

India still has substantial headroom for regional aviation growth. ATR estimates that the country records around 4.6 billion intercity journeys each year, yet only about 3 per cent are currently made by air. The manufacturer argues that expanding short-haul aviation could eventually bring tens of millions of additional passengers into the air-transport system.

The ATR 72-600 is particularly relevant to this opportunity because it can serve smaller airports and lower-density markets that may be difficult to operate economically with larger jet aircraft. It can also allow airlines to increase frequencies gradually as traffic develops instead of immediately deploying aircraft with much higher seat capacity.

FLY91 already has an established technical relationship with ATR. In 2024, the airline selected ATR’s Global Maintenance Agreement, a pay-by-the-hour support programme covering aircraft maintenance and component support. The new order therefore deepens an existing operational partnership rather than introducing an entirely new aircraft type into FLY91’s fleet.

The scale of the 40-aircraft purchase is nevertheless a significant change. Deliveries spread between 2027 and 2032 will give FLY91 several years to build its network, add bases, recruit and train crews and develop engineering and maintenance capacity alongside fleet expansion.

It will also give the airline room to enter regional markets that remain underserved despite the broader growth of Indian aviation. Many smaller cities now possess upgraded or newly operational airports but still have limited direct connectivity. A dedicated regional fleet could allow FLY91 to connect such cities with commercial, industrial and tourism centres without requiring every route to pass through Delhi, Mumbai or Bengaluru.

The order is therefore important beyond its headline value.

India’s airline sector has expanded rapidly, but much of that growth has been concentrated on large narrow-body fleets serving major domestic and international routes. FLY91 is making a different bet: that the next phase of aviation growth will also come from shorter routes connecting smaller Indian cities directly with one another.

If the airline succeeds in scaling from six aircraft to more than 60 while maintaining viable regional economics, the $1-billion ATR order could become an important test of whether India can support a large, specialised regional airline alongside its major full-service and low-cost carriers.

For FLY91, the 40-aircraft agreement is therefore not simply a fleet purchase. It is the foundation of an attempt to build a much larger regional aviation network around the idea that India’s next wave of air passengers may come not only from its largest metros, but from hundreds of smaller cities seeking faster connections to the national economy.

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Official Reference

ATR — September 3, 2026
FLY91 Places Historic Order for 40 ATR 72-600 Aircraft
ATR confirms the firm order for 40 aircraft, approximately $1-billion value, delivery schedule from 2027 to 2032, and its status as the largest ATR order ever by a regional airline.

FLY91 — Official Company Announcement
FLY91 confirms the order and its planned fleet expansion from six aircraft to more than 60.

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