Originally Posted by
Wycombe
The Q400 is operated on routes of this length all over the World (look in the US, Africa and Australia) and closer to home with Flybe who use it on sectors approaching this length (SOU-ALC for example).
That's because it is fast (for a turborprop), economical (so the bean-counters like it) and reasonably quiet and comfortable (from my experience) to fly in.
The days of "it is has props, so must be old, noisy and uncomfortable" are long gone.
Personal preference I guess. I've become a regular user of BE services recently and I can say with certainty that given an alternative I would not take a Q400 on a 3hr sector across part of the North Atlantic.
They may be less noisy than traditional props but they are still somewhat noisier than jets in most of the cabin. The vibrations and noise combined can make them a little unbearable....on a 30 minute flight never mind 3hrs.
Then we have winds....for the average punter a jaunt on a Q400 could be quite an off putting experience in an average winter day. They sometimes feel like paper airplanes when they get tossed around.
All that said, hopefully this is a success and leads to more capacity when Icelandair have an appropriately sized aircraft to serve the market. My understanding is that BHD currently cannot accomodate a B757 (too heavy for the ramp) Is that still the case?