Originally Posted by Bucking Bar

Harvard? eh' no Wharton's a much better school in my opinion. The DOT repeats the information straight from the operator. I don't know how NWA operated the 757 and if there was a difference in stage lengths between the -300 and -200.

I agree a turboprop is more fuel efficient. There were other problems that prevented DAL from buying large turboprops instead of RJ's aside from consumer preferences. One issue was the footprint a large, straight wing, aircraft has on the ramp. A Dash 8 - Q400 is a 737-800 sized airplane when it comes to ground servicing. There is also the slightly higher block time against headwinds and the fact the Brazilian and Canadian governments were heavily subsidizing the financing of these airplanes while the French / Italians were sitting on their hands.