This may be happening in more places than just ECUK nee Mac's.
I think EC might be just waking up to the fact that there might actually be some cash in servicing the aircraft they have sold. Sound like a familiar story? IBM became a service company. BMW/Merc/Audi etc offer a service package just to keep you in the family as a repeat customer.
EC have/are purchasing a few maintenance organisations around Europe. Where it will unravel is for the reasons mentioned here. People who have personally built reputations in service and support will have the rug pulled and be given a number. I have heard this grievance many times.
They are entering a field which honestly they and the people that work in the hierarchy know very little about.
People with degrees hardly get their hands dirty. Its the folk at the coal face who get the job done. This is where Mac's and others like them were good.
EC service and support has improved but there is still a lot to be done to get near the gold standard. In the past they would rather not do it. Now things may have changed.
You can teach a monkey to ride a bike but he's f%cked when the chain comes off!
The other problem they need to be careful of is the staff walking and taking the customers with them.