If the new regs are going to put all the small GA operators out of business in a few years, why aren’t we seeing more GA business closing their doors now.
....because as I said, it will only commence in a few years. We are all holding on in the hope that it won't be as bad as it looks now.
One flying school operator I know tooled up for 141/142 with all the additional staff only to have the implementation date rolled back 12 months and he has lost his home as a result of being pro-active.
Once you have hundreds of thousands of dollars in Aircraft finance and good people relying on you and working for you, you can't just shut the doors and walk away because it looks hard.
CASA are also selling the myth that "You're one of the good guys, you will probably be last man standing and you will clean up".
The problem is not the volume of work available but the overall health of the ecosystem. Close off the small operators and watch the the support services dry up. MROs, Parts, Fuel.
why aren’t we seeing more GA business closing their doors now
Rossair, AusJet, Broome Air Services, Inbound Aviation just to name a couple. There are 4-6 small GA operations in the NT only surviving as booking agents for their own aeroplanes now with the aircraft operated by another business that still has a CP and all the personnel in place, and CASA is gunning for them too.
More money in flight training theses days if you can do it right.
What jobs would we be training these pilots for if we don't do CHTR any more?
I know some have closed voluntary or been forced to, however I don’t believe the whole lot will go. The larger players will most likely gobble up some of the smaller operators - which has already happened in some places.
...Well that's kinda what I was saying. For example, One company now owns Wingaway, Skymaster, Heron, Airlink (Dubbo) and Chartair. Basair, Hunter Valley Aviation and Australia by Air are the same company. Flight Standards now operates the aircraft of 4 or 5 ex-operators who have had to suspend their own AOCs.
Unless we can lean on CASA to make the Part 119 and Part 135 rules workable, Simple, effective and accountable, small family businesses will fold because small family businesses operate to feed a family.... not to beat the world or make 200% ROI. It won't just be operators, it will be maintainers who need ALL their current work to survive.
It won't happen overnight... but...