having flown all the dash8 variants overseas, I am just not sure the Q400 could stand-up to the rigors of flying in New Zealand. I am thinking mainly of Wellington, that machine can be a handful and as we have seen over the years does not have the undercarriage to cope with high frequency 'firm' arrivals. Flybe's Q400's spent alot of time in the hangers, when I asked a engineer why he thought this was he said, 'because it is designed as a commuter aircraft to fly business people around the regions 2 sectors in the morning and the same again in the afternoon, not to do 10 sectors a day'. It is not a 'sturdy aircraft' like the Q300's.