Commerical operators are poor customers for Sikorsky??? Funny, that seems to be a self inflicted wound to me! When the Pilots Unions formed in the Gulf of Mexico and the operators finally raised rates, one of the by-products was the ability to upgrade their fleets. That was announced in public by the operators themselves! Maybe, if the operators had used sound business management techniques all along and raised rates they would have been able to buy new aircraft over the years instead of continuing to fly antiques till they finally found their way to the boneyard. The helicopter industry is facing yet another crisis....and that is finding a way to replace all of these old aircraft with modern state of the art equipment. As long as they have an attitude of just getting by and relying upon outdated marginal operating practices.....the industry will continue to be a backwater to the aviation mainstream. Why should Sikorsky worry about a customer base that refuses to invest in new aircraft.....after all they are builders of aircraft primarily and suppliers of parts secondarily.