Nutloose, you'll find that ex-service maintenance personnel are now very much in the minority in the airline world and the airlines have a good record for funding engineering training and apprenticeships.
You missed the point, they get these contracts because they can be seen to be cheaper, and the main reason they are is the fact they tend to employ ex service personnel that have an RAF pension to fall back on, so they pay less than the rest of the industry.
Without those people they will have to pay the going rate, which means they cannot under bid as they did in the past.