Barry, what was the anticipated market of the ATP? I assume there was a business plan with a target sales projection?
Well, they expected a similar sort of take-up to the 748, based on the fact that the ATR72 was a year behind the ATP in terms of development. Knowing that Fokker were not going to develop the F50, there were many who thought that the ATP would have a clear run. The Dash 8, (for reasons which I never fully understood, but perhaps based on the relatively poor sales of the Dash 7*) was never considered as a serious competitor initially. The focus was always on the ATR.
* Has this ever been discussed on this forum?