Thanks George,
Great looking graph.
I am curious about your experience level and how long you have been in the industry because to be honest, every flying school owner I know has seen a massive drop off in flight training.
Can I suggest that:
1/. We have seen a huge drop in the number of owner/operator schools in regional Australia
2/. *some* of that drop-off has been balanced by the increase in business at *some* larger schools offering VET-FEE HELP
3/. *some* of that drop-off has been balanced by increased foreign-owned schools; and
4/. BITRE numbers are rubbish.
15 years ago in New England/North-west alone, for example, flying schools were operating (each on separate AOCs) at Moree, Narrabri, Gunnedah, Tamworth, Inverell, Scone, and Armidale with 3 at Cessnock and 1 at Maitland.
Today there is Airspeed (covering Narrabri, Gunnedah, Tamworth, Scone) and Inverell Aviation, plus one school at Maitland and one at Cessnock (which is actually based in Bankstown). Each of those flying schools employed pilots and paid $$$ to maintenance shops and kept skilled people employed in regional areas. Many other regional areas tell the same tale.
You might respond that there are a great many reasons for this and you would be right HOWEVER there is no reason for Govt rules, which are variable at the whim of a public servants pen, to make life even harder than it already is.
The other side of the coin, which has been alluded to in other threads by LeadSled, Jonkster, and others is that GA is hardly doing itself any favours in the marketing dept. We need to get Dick Smith and others behind a GA promotional effort to make flying sexy again. It needs to be industry-wide, it needs to be slick, and it needs to be soon.
Tally Tootle Pip Ho.