Crash & Burn's figures are interesting. One needs to take another step and apply context.
The biggest reason why the ATRs and Dash 8s are there is Caticlan and the Boracay tourist market. It is not the only reason for their existence, of course, but both 5J and PAL Express clearly see the Boracay route as a premier route for their turboprop fleet, one that promises to be very profitable.
Actual operating experience now shows the ATR72 is weight penalized out of Caticlan. That was expected from the outset. Unfortunately, the penalty is much more than LG thought it would be, or was told it would be.
While the ATR72 can haul 62-74 pax, how many pax can it really haul out of Caticlan's short and be-obstacled runway? It's in the 40s, if I heard right (but somebody else may know better). And that's not even taking a wet runway into account.
Now that operational reality has kicked in, is the route still as profitable as LG thought it would be when he was still counting those ATR beans so many moons ago?
In this context, does the ATR stack up better against the the Q300 or Q400 on the Caticlan route? This is not a rhetorical question by the way. I'm asking in case anyone knows the answer.