I'd be surprised if that prang cost them a million $, certainly not for the hull loss because the aircraft was insured. Probably not for the repatriation of the banged up pilot because they have insurance for that sort of thing, or don't they?? Their premiums might have gone up following the hull loss claim, but I thought Swires underwrote all the insurance, so it's like robbing Peter to pay Paul (I was going to say like robbing Jan to pay Paul, but I won't!!). Regarding the pay drop as described, wasn't it only proposed rather than implemented, and most of the guys ended up with a pay rise?
You got to understand some of the background here. The brothers came into the new JV operation with no experience dealing with helicopter pilots. They'd had plenty of experience dealing with young jellyback stiff wing pilots who'd roll over and take it up the rear posterior just to be greatful they had a job. They just weren't prepared initially for the fact that the helicopter pilot group had much stiffer back bones than what the brothers were used to dealing with. Many voted with their feet and left, some came back eventually after the dust settled and the deal was found to be not that bad. Some wanted to come back but the horse had already bolted and the bridge was burned.
I think you'll find ultimately they all ended up with a pay rise, particularly the stiff wing pilot co-pilots who benefited greating from the back bone brought to the operation by the helicopter pilots.
The paycut proposed now has a completely different history.