Whispering Giant
I don't think that is a fair assessment of the Q400. I fly it and I am sure I know who you are and if it spends more time tech than it does in the air then I am sure the new CEO would be on it like a wolf on meat and I would spend more time on the ground as well. I can assure you I have not been tech in a significant amount of time. The fact of the matter is that the Dash8, even with dispatch reliability alot higher than what you have stated, is alot cheaper to run than the Ejets. If it wasn't then the Q400 would be grounded wouldn't it. There's a reason why it is rumoured that the jets are being grounded, and that is they are too expensive. Yes the sunshine routes may make money, but as someone alluded to up above, there is not alot of yield when you are operating them on domestic routes, which probably make up 80% of the Ejet's flying. We have to think outside the Exeter bubble and see what is really happening around the network.
"Artic" Monkey
p.s. for those of you who think a Q400 is loud, try flying on a J41/ATR42/S340/Trilander