I would think that any ATR version would be hard to make money on, im no aerosexual but i would love to know what the break even pax figure would be on an ATR v something like a B1900 or a DO8.
AFAIK,
The DHC8 is a guzzler compared to the ATR. This due mainly to the fact that it has significantly more powerful engines.
This however has the obvious benefit of allowing a higher MTOW so I guess it's a tradeoff.
In simple terms I understand it to mean that the ATR is better suited the shorter scale regional routes whereas the dash is more suited to "long haul regional" routes!
Open to correction of course...