Europe's Clean Aviation Bolsters Next-Generation Regional Research

WASHINGTON—ATR’s plans for a next-generation regional airliner may still be in flux, but the European Union (EU) is putting in place the final pieces of a multi-year effort to develop technologies for the aircraft that will follow today’s ATR 42 and 72.

Europe’s Clean Aviation research program has announced funding for 19 projects totaling €664 million ($760 million), €290 million of which is to come from the EU with the rest to be provided by industry partners.

The projects were selected following the decade-long program’s fourth call for proposals. Although only one of the major efforts targets Clean Aviation’s Ultra-Efficient Regional Aircraft (UERA) program, it tops up a substantial list of related projects funded under previous calls.

ATR JV partner Leonardo will lead the Athena project to demonstrate an advanced airframe for ultra-efficient regional aircraft. The project is planned to begin early in 2027, leading to a full-scale ground or flight demonstration in 2029-30.

Call 4 provides €40 million in EU funding for the UERA initiative. This is down significantly from Call 3 in 2025 but adds to the total of more than €220 million in EU funding provided for regional-aircraft technology development since Clean Aviation was launched in 2021.

The biggest boost came with Call 3, which included a commitment to flight test a hybrid-electric regional aircraft demonstrator by 2030. EU funding totaling €144 million was awarded to projects led by ATR to define the UERA concept and build and fly an ATR 72-based demonstrator; to Pratt & Whitney Canada to develop the turbine-electric hybrid engine; and to Safran to develop systems for electrical power generation and distribution as well as energy and thermal management.

In addition to its focus on hybrid-electric propulsion, across the four Calls awarded to date, Clean Aviation has funded projects to develop technology for the wing, fuselage and systems of a next-generation regional aircraft. Call 4 includes two smaller “fast track” projects to develop low-power ice protection and cabin acoustic optimization technologies.

Results from the research are feeding into ATR’s ongoing deliberations on its next product. The Airbus/Leonardo JV had planned to launch the hybrid-electric EVO to replace the ATR 42/72 in the early 2030s, but stepped back in 2025, saying the technology was not ready.

ATR is now pursuing parallel tracks—hybrid-electric propulsion and a next-generation turboprop engine—and says it will not launch an aircraft until the technology is ready. Whichever way the company chooses to go, airframe, system and other technologies developed with support from Clean Aviation will play a key role in its next aircraft.