ATR 72-500

Updated: October 2026 – High wing, T-tail, two propellers with six blades each: anyone who sees such an aircraft on the apron today usually thinks of the ATR 72-600. Quite often, though, it is its predecessor, the ATR 72-500. For over a decade it was the standard version of the big ATR turboprop, it is the most-built ATR 72 before the current generation, and it still flies in many parts of the world today. Here you will learn what makes the -500, how to tell it from its predecessors and the -600, and where you can still meet it.

What is the ATR 72-500?

The ATR 72-500 is a twin-engine regional turboprop with typically 68 to 72 seats. The manufacturer is ATR in Toulouse, then a joint venture of France’s Aérospatiale and Italy’s Alenia, today of Airbus and Leonardo. The ATR 72 itself had been in scheduled service since 1989 – as a stretched version of the smaller ATR 42.

ATR launched the -500 series in the early 1990s, first for the ATR 42. The ATR 42-500 was certified in 1995, and the long sister followed: the ATR 72-500 first flew in 1996, and the French aviation authority DGAC certified it in January 1997. In July 1997, American Eagle, the regional brand of American Airlines, took the first aircraft. The company then known as American Eagle Airlines now operates as Envoy Air and retired the ATR long ago.

Formally, the aircraft is called the ATR 72-212A. The 212 designates a version of the -210, the A the revised version. In marketing, “-500” prevailed – to match the ATR 42-500.

What was new compared with the -210

The -500 took over the improvements ATR had previously developed on the ATR 42-500. The key points:

• Six-blade propellers of the Hamilton Standard 568F type with composite blades, controlled by an electronic propeller control that synchronizes both propellers.
• Higher weights: The maximum takeoff weight was initially 22 tonnes and rose to 22.5 and 22.8 tonnes with later modifications.
• Quieter cabin: Measures against propeller noise and vibration, supported by the synchronized six-blade propellers.

Power comes from two Pratt & Whitney Canada PW127F engines with 2,750 hp of takeoff power each. Later aircraft could also be fitted with the PW127M, which later became the standard on the -600.

The most-built ATR 72 before the -600

The -500 came at exactly the right time. In the late 1990s and the 2000s, many airlines replaced older turboprops such as the Fokker 50 or the Saab 340, and rising kerosene prices made fuel-efficient propeller aircraft attractive again on short routes. By September 2018, ATR had delivered 365 ATR 72-500s – clearly more than the 187 aircraft of the early ATR 72 series -200 and -210 combined.

Customers of the late 2000s included Malaysia Airlines, TAROM, Vietnam Airlines, Indonesia’s Wings Air and the Channel Islands airline Aurigny, which took two -500s in 2009. One of the last big customers was Russia’s UTair, which ordered 20 aircraft and received the first ones from May 2011 – just a few months before the first -600 went to Royal Air Maroc.

ATR 72-500 or ATR 72-600? Telling them apart

This is the real challenge for spotters. Fuselage, wings, tail, landing gear and propellers are the same on both series. The differences lie in the cockpit, the cabin and the engines – and you can’t see those from the outside.

Feature	ATR 72-500	ATR 72-600
ICAO code	AT75	AT76
Official type	ATR 72-212A	ATR 72-212A with new avionics
First delivery	July 1997 (American Eagle)	August 2011 (Royal Air Maroc)
Cockpit	older avionics with smaller screens and individual instruments	glass cockpit with five wide LCD screens (Thales)
Engines	PW127F, later also PW127M	PW127M with boost function, newer ones also PW127XT
Propellers	six blades, Hamilton Standard 568F	six blades
Seats maximum	74	78 (high-density seating, certified since 2015)
Cabin lighting	conventional	LED

The surest way is the type code: in tracking services the -500 shows as AT75, the -600 as AT76. If you only have a photo, the registration helps – through registry databases you find the serial number and year of manufacture. How that works is explained in Understanding aircraft registrations and Finding out an aircraft’s age. If the aircraft has six propeller blades, a year of manufacture before 2011 almost always points to a -500.

The ATR 72 generations at a glance

So that you can place the -500 with confidence, here are the ATR 72 series with their codes. The propellers are the most important external feature.

Series	ICAO code	Propeller blades	Remark
ATR 72-201/-202	AT72	4	First series from 1989
ATR 72-211/-212	AT73	4	More powerful PW127 for hot and high-elevation airfields
ATR 72-500	AT75	6	Six-blade propellers, higher weights, quieter cabin
ATR 72-600	AT76	6	Glass cockpit, PW127M/XT
ATR 72-600F	AT76	6	Factory-built freighter without windows

If you count four blades, you can rule out the -500 right away – then it is an ATR 72-200/-210. With six blades and a long fuselage, the choice remains between the -500 and -600. If the fuselage looks stubby and short, you are looking at an ATR 42.

You can find more on the differences between the ATR, Dash 8 and other propeller aircraft in the guide Telling turboprops apart. The most important mix-up outside the ATR family is the Dash 8-400: it retracts its main landing gear into the engine nacelles and stands clearly higher on the apron than the low-slung ATR.

Military and special versions

You do come across military ATR 72s, but they are mostly not -500s. The Turkish Navy’s submarine hunters and the Italian Air Force’s P-72A maritime patrol aircraft, fitted out by Leonardo, are based on the -600. Turkey originally ordered -500-based aircraft in 2005 but switched the order to the new generation in 2012. From the outside, these aircraft stand out through sensors and antennas, while the basic shape remains the familiar ATR 72.

In addition, many older ATR 72s have been converted to freighters, with blanked-out or painted-over windows. On a windowless ATR, the series is even harder to determine from the outside – then registration and type code help. You will find tips on this in the article Recognizing cargo aircraft. The factory-built freighter of the new generation is presented on the page about the ATR 72-600F.

Accidents you should know about

Like any widely used type, the ATR 72-500 appears in accident reports – three cases have drawn particular attention. In the crash of TransAsia flight 222 in July 2014 on Taiwan’s Penghu Islands, 48 people died. In January 2023, Yeti Airlines flight 691 crashed on approach to Pokhara in Nepal with 72 dead; investigators found that the propellers had been inadvertently set to feather. In August 2024, an ATR 72-500 of Brazil’s Voepass fell from cruising altitude, and all 62 people on board died; according to the preliminary investigation, icing played a central role.

Each of these cases has its own causes, which are worked through in the respective investigation reports. For spotters, they explain why the type has been intensely discussed in some countries.

Where you can find the ATR 72-500 today

As of October 2026, the -500 is a rare visitor in central Europe. The big regional operators in Ireland, Great Britain, Spain and the Canary Islands have largely switched their fleets to the -600. If you come across an ATR in Germany, Austria or Switzerland, it usually belongs to a foreign regional airline, is on a cargo or charter flight or is being ferried. With operators such as Danish Air Transport, which use older ATR series, it is worth checking tracking to see whether an AT75 is coming. How rare your sighting really is, you can judge with the guide Judging the rarity of a sighting.

You have clearly better chances outside Europe. Large fleets existed for many years in Southeast Asia, for example with Wings Air in Indonesia, in South Asia with airlines such as Buddha Air in Nepal and in Latin America. If you vacation there, you often see -500s by the dozen at the regional airports. Fleets change quickly, though: retirements, sales and freighter conversions are everyday business for a type of this age. So before every trip, check which AT75s are actually flying.

In Europe, it is worth looking at cargo and ACMI providers such as Swiftair of Spain, which operate ATRs of various series. And at spots with a lot of ATR traffic such as Playa Honda on Lanzarote or The Mound in Dublin, an older aircraft occasionally turns up among the many -600s – as a replacement during shortages or on wet lease, for example. What is behind such operations is explained in Wet lease explained.

Spotting and photo tips for the ATR 72-500

Photographically, the -500 behaves like the -600 – with one difference: you will want to be able to prove later which series it was. So plan your picture so that the registration stays legible.

When the light is right at your spot, you work out in advance – how is explained in Planning the sun position for your photo spot. And if you are unsure about the codes: IATA and ICAO codes explained and ICAO type codes explained bring order to AT72 through AT76.

Conclusion

The ATR 72-500 is the link between the first ATR 72 generation and today’s -600. With six-blade propellers, higher weights and a quieter cabin, it became the standard in regional traffic from 1997 and remained the most-built version until the -600. You tell it from its predecessors by the propellers, and from its successor practically only by type code, registration or a look into the cockpit. In central Europe it has become rare – which is exactly why it is worth deliberately logging every AT75.