Goodonyamate and others getting all misty eyed about O'connors, the hard cold fact is that the company with its GA mentality really doesn't have any vision for the future, and they are basically starting to go around in ever decreasing circles. I suspect that once they had the business at the largest size that one family could run it they didn't really pursue any further opportunities to expand (remember Rex has grown out of two operators that were once of a similar size to O'connors). This was fine for a long time but ultimately you become vulnerable when you are too small to be run 'professionally' but too big not to be in competition with larger companies. The fact that they haven't replaced retired/grounded aircraft means that they are either unable or unwilling to access debt to replace these aircraft. The company just doesn't have a critical mass anymore and finds itself boxed in by big bad Rex.
and a damn good one at that
Damn good compared to who???? Transair?