Air Vanuatu ATR72-600 turboprop construction video: Timelapse

Ever wondered how a turboprop plane gets built? A new timelapse video released by Air Vanuatu gives a high-speed overview of the construction of a new ATR72-600 turboprop plane.

The final assembly of the plane happens at the French-Italian company's base in Toulouse (also the home of Airbus), where segments are fitted together and wings attached.

The last stage is the paint job, which is done using stencils and spray paint, with the final finishing touches added by hand.

ATR's construction process is very hands-on. The painting of large Airbus and Boeing planes, for example, is done by machines, rather than the manual process ATR staff use as seen in the video.

This particular ATR was delivered to Air Vanuatu last month and features 70 seats and the widest cabin of any turboprop aircraft.

Turboprop planes are typically used on short-haul regional routes. The ATR72-600 has a range of 1527 km when carrying a full complement of 70 passengers. In Australia, ATRs are flown by Virgin Australia on several region routes.

Air Vanuatu is exploring new routes for the plane including including a Vila-Santo-Noumea service.

See also: Airline review: Air Vanuatu, Sydney to Port Vila

See also: The mysterious island paradise where cannibalism kept going