Onevan - your hearsay seems correct - 3 bidders to be reduced to 2 by the end of the year. But, despite all the 'bluesky thinking' - only the 12 base option is to be considered with a mix of 2 aircraft types 60/40 medium/large.
Costs still seem to be a problem though especially for training - funny how the Mod setup doesn't look so expensive now. Easy answer - cut the training just like crab@ said before - oh dear
