I am of the opinion that AAE has ultimately brought this upon themselves.
You should not be able to walk in the door of an organisation like AAE, place a proposal for tender on the desk and not expect to have a very intensive SWAT (Strenghts, Weakness and Threats) analysis carried out.
I accept that AAE may well have been desperate and at the time the TAAE proposal might well have looked like a solution to a problem that no one else would touch. It is however incumbent on the management team to determine the likelihood of continued solvency of an operator. With the benefit of years of hindsight (before the formation of TAAE), AAE has had the opportunity to analyse the track record of these aged aircraft newstarts. We have all seen this before.
CASA does have a history of going way over the top to cover its ever increasingly vulnerable backside, particularly with new organisations. This is not new!
Operators of older machinery tend to underestimate the costs of maintenace on
their aircraft as they "should be faultless" This is not new!
And unfortunately another freight operator looks like going under. Sad to say this is not new!
I do not meen to exonerate TAAE of potentially poor managemnet (I don't have all the facts to say) AAE, however have been at this game for eleven years. If their customers depend primarily on continuation and reliability of service...............
Willie