Australia's helicopter industry?

[Chris Pochari]

I've heard Australia's helicopter industry was growing 7-8%yr and now it's almost stopped growing, anybody have any insights on what's going on in Australia?

[ersa]

Everyone is under cutting everyone else.....

[Twist & Shout]

Everyone is under cutting everyone else.....

Now that every company requires about 5 office staff for every crew member, savings have to be made. So obviously pilots are the easy target.

I'm certain several companies are planning to get rid of the last of their pilots to pay for an IT upgrade, and a new computer based "Safety System".:bored:


The less flying. The happier CASA are as well.

Australian avaiation is under attack from several fronts.:(

[Flying Binghi]

Any small scale industry will show wild swings of growth and retraction on a year to year basis.





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[Chris Pochari]

So it's just cyclical, what about mining? how many helicopters are actually used for mining? Maybe the mining boom been the primary reason for high growth in the Australian helicopter industry. since commodity prices started falling in 2012

[belly tank]

Ersa has hit it on the head. In some areas pricing is far lower than it was 10 years ago for the same work. Too many operators, not enough work.

[fadecdegraded]

So it's just cyclical, what about mining? how many helicopters are actually used for mining? Maybe the mining boom been the primary reason for high growth in the Australian helicopter industry. since commodity prices started falling in 2012
I've heard of a few helicopters that were used for mining but it doesn't work they can only be used once bit hard on the pilots too I think.

[Chris Pochari]

Well if not than what is the cause of slow growth in the heli industry since 2014? Not speaking of offshore of course

[Twist & Shout]

Some areas of the industry are "discretionary/luxury" like scenic flights and tourist transfers. These areas suffer fast when people tighten the belt.
I've done a fair bit of real estate photography in the past. Next time I do that it will likely be from the ground, with a controller in my hand, unfortunately.
The above two downturns mean low hour jobs are even harder to find.
This reduces the numbers training, so less instructors are required.

As far as mining goes, "stream sampling" used to employ quite a few pilots. I'm pretty sure not much of this goes on any more.

There has also been a move from many smaller machines to fewer larger machines in fire/flood operations. Fewer pilots required, and many fewer less experienced pilots jobs.

Even though the Off-Shore industry seems to be in a race to the bottom as far as conditions go, the fact is there are more jobs than ever in that industry. No one is going to the rigs by boat. Pilots are just changing suits, and working for a different circus.

[twisted wrench]

Industry ( off shore) in Australia can´t be to bad if HNZ has 4 or 5 Canadian Engineers in Broome with working visa´s.

[industry insider]

No one is going to the rigs by boat.

But the idea is being actively studied by some oil and gas companies with the goal of replacing helicopters except for SAR and Medevac. New stabilised gangway technology, fast crew vessels and relatively calm conditions could make boat transfer in Australia possible. Boats are being used in Angola in lieu of helicopters.

[RVDT]

The "metric" used to determine the "growth" may be a little bit suspect. :p

[Impress to inflate]

Boats are fine for very range jobs but the reason why helicopters are used is because of the range. 135nm south Timor for the Bayu-Undan, 210 nm north of the Kimberly's for the Northern Endeavour, 130nm for the Montara field and 254 nm north of Broome for Prelude and Ithycus field and anything from 80 to 160 nm to lay barges. Short range, Pax don't mind the odd boat transfer but long range they hate it.