ATR 72-200/210

Updated: October 2026 – Shortly after midnight, a turboprop rolls across the cargo apron: wings on top, a tail like a T, not a single row of cabin windows. If you count, you get four blades per propeller. Then you are very likely looking at an ATR 72-200 or -210 – the first generation of the big ATR. Here you will learn how to recognize it, how to tell it from its successors and why you mostly meet it at cargo hubs today.

What is the ATR 72-200/210?

The ATR 72-200 is the first production standard of the ATR 72, a twin-engine regional turboprop from Toulouse. Behind ATR then stood France’s Aérospatiale and Italy’s Aeritalia; today it is their successors Airbus and Leonardo. The idea was simple: the successful ATR 42 gets a longer fuselage, a larger wingspan and more seats.

ATR announced the stretched version in January 1986. The prototype took off on its first flight on October 27, 1988, and certification by the French aviation authority DGAC followed in September 1989. The ATR 72 entered scheduled service in October 1989 within the Finnair group. The early aircraft carry the factory designations ATR 72-101 and -102, which were quickly replaced by the heavier -201 and -202. The industry groups these two together as the ATR 72-200.

In December 1992 the ATR 72-210 was added, officially -211 and -212. It differs mainly in the engines: instead of the Pratt & Whitney Canada PW124B, the more powerful PW127 does the work, giving the aircraft more reserves at hot and high-elevation airports. Fuselage, wings and propellers stayed the same. From 1997 the modernized version with six-blade propellers replaced the first generation – officially ATR 72-212A, marketed as the ATR 72-500.

With a length of 27.17 meters and a wingspan of 27.05 meters, the first-generation ATR 72 already has the dimensions that apply up to today’s -600. The cabin typically seated around 70 passengers, depending on seat pitch. The concept – low fuel consumption, short runways, simple handling without a jet bridge – proved so successful that ATR hardly had to change the basic shape over decades.

The three features that are enough to identify it

You don’t need insider knowledge to identify it. Three observations are enough, and all of them also work from a greater distance.

Between the -200 and -210 the outer skin doesn’t decide. Here you need the registration or the type code in the tracking service: AT72 for the -200, AT73 for the -210. How to get to an aircraft’s year of manufacture and history through the registration is shown in the article Finding out an aircraft’s age.

The ATR 72 family at a glance

Since 1989 the ATR 72 has gone through three major series. From the outside they differ mainly in the propellers, in tracking in the ICAO code.

Model	ICAO code	Propeller blades	Engines	Remark
ATR 72-200 (-201/-202)	AT72	4	PW124B	First production version from 1989
ATR 72-210 (-211/-212)	AT73	4	PW127	More power, from 1992
ATR 72-500 (-212A)	AT75	6	PW127F/M	Certified 1997
ATR 72-600	AT76	6	PW127M/XT	Glass cockpit, from 2011
ATR 42-300/320	AT43	4	PW120/PW121	Short sister of the first generation

In practice that means: four blades and a long fuselage narrow you down to the first generation of the ATR 72 right away. Four blades and a short fuselage mean ATR 42-300 or -320. Six blades rule out the -200/-210 – then you are at the ATR 72-500, the ATR 72-600 or an ATR 42-500.

ATR 72-200, Dash 8-300 or Fokker 50?

In the turboprop fleet of the late 1980s and 1990s, several types look similar at first glance. The finder helps you narrow it down.

The Dash 8-300 is the most direct competitor from the same era. What gives it away most clearly is the landing gear in the engine nacelles, which makes it stand noticeably higher. The Fokker 50 carries its horizontal stabilizer low on the rear fuselage. Low-wing aircraft such as the Saab 340 or the BAe ATP you rule out at the wing already. You will find a detailed comparison of the common types in the guide Telling turboprops apart.

A second life as a freighter

Many early ATR 72s ended their passenger service long ago and keep flying – with parcels, mail and express freight. According to figures from 2012, more than a fifth of all first-generation ATR 42s and ATR 72s had already been converted to freighters by then. The reasons are obvious: the aircraft are robust, cope with short runways and burn little fuel on short routes.

Two conversion variants have become established:

• Bulk freighter: The cargo is loaded loose or in small units through the existing doors. Externally the aircraft stays almost unchanged, only the windows are often blanked out or painted over.
• ULD freighter: A large cargo door at the front left takes standard containers and pallets. ATR unveiled this “Large Cargo Door” for all ATR 72s at the Farnborough air show in 2002. You recognize these conversions by the wide door frame behind the cockpit.

One well-known operator is the feeder network of FedEx Express in the US: Mountain Air Cargo operates ATR 72-200Fs there on a dry lease that are owned by FedEx itself – around ten of them according to a 2025 fleet overview. In Europe, Spain’s Swiftair has ATR 72s in the 200F versions, with a large cargo door, and 500F in its fleet. How the interplay of integrators and contract airlines works is explained in the article Integrators DHL, FedEx and UPS.

Roselawn and its consequences

A serious accident is part of the first generation’s history. On October 31, 1994, an American Eagle ATR 72-212 crashed in a holding pattern near Roselawn in the US state of Indiana; all 68 people on board died. US accident investigators concluded that ice had formed behind the deicing boots on the wing leading edges and that the ailerons suddenly no longer responded as expected. The French side disputed this assessment in part.

The consequences were far-reaching: in 1996 the US Federal Aviation Administration, the FAA, issued a whole series of airworthiness directives for turboprops with similar technology, including stricter rules for flight in icing conditions. ATR significantly enlarged the deicing boots on the wing leading edge – on the ATR 72 from 7 to 12.5 percent of the chord. For you as a spotter, this is a small detail with a big history: the black rubber strips on the wing leading edges that you see in close-ups are exactly these deicing boots.

Where you can find the ATR 72-200/210

In passenger traffic in German-speaking countries, the first ATR 72 generation no longer plays a role. Your best chances are with cargo and express flights. These flights often run at off-peak times and through cargo hubs such as Leipzig/Halle Airport, Cologne/Bonn Airport, Belgium’s Liège Airport or East Midlands in England. Whether an AT72 or AT73 is operating there at the moment you can only check at short notice in tracking – fixed operations cannot be reliably predicted for these aircraft.

Spot	Why it’s worth it
Leipzig/Halle observation deck	Big cargo hub with lots of night traffic
Cologne/Bonn observation deck	Strong cargo and express share
Liège spotters’ spot	Pure cargo airport with many exotics
East Midlands Aeropark	British express and mail hub

Outside Europe, early ATR 72s still fly in passenger service with various smaller airlines, often in regions with many short runways and island connections. When you travel, a look at the tracking filters AT72 and AT73 at your destination is worthwhile. How to track down such rarities systematically is shown in the guide Spotting rare aircraft.

Spotting in practice: cargo turboprops at off-peak times

An old cargo ATR behaves differently from a leisure jet on a Saturday noon. Three points help you plan.

Plan for off-peak times. Express and mail flights are often early in the morning, late in the evening or at night. Check the times in tracking and plan whether you will work with daylight or with long exposures. You will find tips for the dark in Photographing aircraft at night.

Outer positions instead of the terminal. Cargo turboprops park on cargo aprons that are often far from observation decks or can’t be seen at all. You have better chances at takeoff and landing. You choose the right vantage point by runway direction in use and wind.

Short roll. The ATR needs little runway and is often airborne early on takeoff. Plan your vantage point so that you aren’t waiting for it only at the runway end.

Photo tips for the first ATR 72 generation

If you are just starting with type identification, the guide Identifying aircraft types for beginners will get you on course quickly.

Common mix-ups and how to rule them out

Conclusion

The ATR 72-200 and -210 shaped the basic form that you still see at regional airports all over the world. You reliably tell them from their successors by the four propeller blades, and from each other only by type code or registration. They are hardly still on the move in European passenger service, but as freighters many have found a second life. If you want to catch one, plan with tracking, off-peak times and a cargo hub – and enjoy a piece of turboprop history in your hangar.