Pearl wanted out of what was essentially a loss maker. Easier to pull the pin and pay a penalty and then rebid for the next long term contract....[from a horses mouth..]
Really? When NT Health Department terminated a contract several years early, I'm not sure that the contractor would have been "paying them a penalty" - more likely the other way around, don't you think?
The contract was probably not very lucrative in the last few years, with increased flying and increased maintenance - but I think it was the NT Government who decided to "re-engineer" the contract - including provision of medical staff by the contractor. I think it was actually Pearl who showed them the "writing on the wall" so to speak, with respect to the fleet. But Pearl are only an aviation company - of course the NT Health Department would know more about aviation than them...
I think the NT Government's lack of contract management, is (was) only matched by Pearl's (N.B. I'm talking formerly, and on this specific contract), and that gave Pearl a very lucky "exit opportunity", that they were obviously going to take. I've said earlier on this thread (or maybe another, I can't recall) that I'm not entirely sure that Dorniers didn't have an influence on the NTAMS contract towards the end, either...
The NT Government?!! Well, they apparently couldn't afford aircraft required to do the job properly, but could hose THOUSANDS UPON THOUSANDS of dollars on rotary services, when it was not required. Go figure...
If it is awarded back to Pearl (or the "team" they are part of) - I would consider that decision to be in truth a really embarrassing result for the NT Government, except that they will likely justify it in that very way - a totally new contract, dis-similar to the previous one. Nobody will notice the truth, eh?!
CR.