Am watching the GRJ route with interest. It is about equal to the maximum distance that we operate the Q400 over here. At the end of the day most people book their flight based on the price. If the price is right SAX will be filling up the flight to GRJ. Most people won´t have a clue what aircraft they are flying until they bang their heads on one of those six blade props!
Would be interesting to see how passengers at GRJ take to the Q400 in about 6 months time. For a couple of years now GRJ was the only airport in South Africa where no scheduled flights were operated by prop-planes, mostly ERJs, 737s and MD-80s. Now within a year SAA/SAX has gone backwards on the route, from 3 daily SAA (2x738+1xA319) to 3 daily SAX (2x732+1xCRJ) to now 4 daily prop-planes. The white 732s didn't always appeal to everyone also. If they were to compete with the other carriers operating jet-aircraft, would it be wise to buy newer CRJs (CRJ700 or CRJ900), how much more economical is the new generation CRJs?