Not really the same thing. Contracted maintenance of engines and airframes is one thing, having to guess how many aircraft we can safely get away with renting from a mercenary unless there's a period of notifiable tension which fits the contracted availability timetable is quite another.
However, leasing 767Ks from Boeing the same way we lease our C-17s would be a lot better than the daft PFI scheme so beloved of the DPA suits!
Public Private Partnership - or P*ss Poor Plan??
[ 15 July 2001: Message edited by: BEagle ]