Originally Posted by
+TSRA
I've worked for three different Dash-8 operators over 10 years......
Thanks for your insights. Well spotted, that is a -315 on the left. It's operated by a small company that also flies caravans and a couple of even older Dash-8's. The one on the right is a -400 operated by a subsidiary of a national carrier.
On reflection the one on the left operates almost exclusively to airstrips with little or no support, and certainly no GPU. I guess that would make it difficult and risky to operate without a working APU, so my guess is that they just wanted a quick turnaround. On that run, they are typically on the ground there for perhaps 20 minutes.