unfortunately its true that a normal, run of the mill, uneducated (in flying terms) pax will prefer a jet because its "modern" and all props are "old and dangerous". and in these cases its the beancounters who have a very tough job because the right aircraft for the job might be a prop but the opposition is flying with a lekker shiny jet. so its a case of keeping up with the jones's which often leads to the company folding because of the huge costs incurred. just got a message a few minutes ago that one of the newer companies down the road has folded this morning. they had shiny new jets for realtively short routes. they started flying these routes with the jets because the PAX wanted it like that (launching statement in the press!).
BUT!! still want to know what the situation with the SAX Q400s is!!! When? How? etc.