It is a fact that GA is going to continue the current slide into a very small market niche. Look at what GA was used for in the hey-days of the 70s to 90s - mining, commerce, tourism. Now it is so much less cost and less actual or potential drama, to simply stick the rig crew or CEO or whomever on a
VB or QF at prices that were unheard of back then - $120 rtn BN-SY - than to charter a 20-30 yr old noisy piston aeroplane that takes longer and costs more.
Regional airlines are subsidised to fly to what used to be the bread & butter of GA - the regional towns of 3000 - 10,000 people. Try and find a flourishing GA CHTR or LCRPT in any of those centres now!
Driving is no longer the pain in the butt that it was - quality sealed roads all around and across the country make it a viable alternative to CHTR.
Tourism is high-end, no more boggging around in hot, smelly Cessnas et al - the market is focussed on the turbine helos and some inter-island resort commuters.
There will always be mine FIFO contracts and Aeromedical, but those markets are pretty soundly stitched up, and those consumers are generally in the top end of the market.
So apart from training and the remaining outposts where our tax dollars subsidise a mostly indiginous clientele - there ain't really much left.
