I believe that we have a situation where the tail is wagging the dog. The SLF are attacking the wrong thing, they should be attacking their employers not the aircraft.
The Oil Companies put out a tender document which sets out the requirements and the operators submit their bids utilising their existing fleet or if there is an age limit, a new type. In most cases the cheapest bid wins. The range, payload etc. Are all taken into consideration, so if a helicopter bid using say 14 seats against 18/19 seats he will go out of business. Everything is driven by the Oil Companies and while over the years they have raised standards they still watch the pennies.
I have served on a number of committies in my time and most were constructive, but there were times when it felt we were trying to get blood out of a stone.
Any changes have to come from the customer not the operator. It has been mentioned in previous posts that the budget for helicopter transport is miniscule within the big picture, but for the individual who controls it it is large and any chages have to be justified from higher up.
If enough pressure from the workforce or if some posts are to be believed lack of workforce may contribut to changes.
What I don't think will change in the near future are the helicopter types already in service.