An_3, you may be right about the pax appeal of jet vs props but I have not come across a travel/booking website which gives you the option of choosing which aircraft type you can fly on. Most give the price option, then the date specific option. If you did want to fly only jet it would take a fair bit more digging to find out.
We fly CHC-WLG vs B737, they pass us in the climb/cruise/descent, but generally we are pulling up on the gate in the ATR about the same time as there passengers are getting up out of there seats. No more that 10mins in it, and pax do prefer the ATR as door to door it is debatable who is quicker, no security checks, quicker boarding and deplaning, and they get a cup of coffee as well.
If Cook get a different type Q400/ATR92, then it will be just as quick if not quicker. As airspace gets more congested for NZ standards, speed control increases and jets on short sectors are only really gaining in the cruise, sometimes in the climb and descent, but if they are above us, there is sometimes not the distance to run to get them thru infront. We can go 250kts to about 8nm final, so we get to catch them up near the end a bit.
Keesje the ATR in Hotel mode is supplied by the same engine driven generators so can supply normally 400A DC.
My 10cents worth.