Rex have been operating 340B(WT) in North Queensland for 5 years with no issues. They operate them in other parts of Aus that are a little hot as well. These aircraft are nothing like the earlier models which definitely had WAT issues. Also; unlike Macair they invest heavily in GSE to support their aircraft and will probably have more supporting one run that Macair had across their network.
This is a poor result for Skytrans but guess what....contracts aren't signed for life and anyone who expects them to go forever shouldn't be in business. I am sure Skytrans always factored this possibility.
Copythis; you can always do a FOI and find out. I wouldn't be following the party line that they bought the contracts. Rex are considerably more efficient and cheaper than other SAAB operators let alone Dash 8 operators, I'd start there.