State of the Industry

[maeroda]

Originally Posted by dingo9

Any flying becomes boring after multiple thousand hours. Trust me. Don’t get me wrong I’d rather do this than sit in an office, but it will eventually just become a job to you. Go with the money and the jobs... ie Fixed wing. Rotary self financed just doesn’t make sense.

I respectfully disagree about this statement, let me clarify my point please.
In my 22 years aviation career with EASA license I have flow aerial work, then HEMS (the Italian kind, which is single pilot / multi pilot involving HAA, HEMS and mountain SAR-HHO all mixed together in H24/365 operations), then VVIP flying African country presidents, then offshore OGP (with CHC and Babcock) I can say HEMS is definitely a kind a job I would never get bored about.
On the other hand, Offshore is very boring as well as repetitive aerial work.
Salary: minimum level in aerial work, maximum at offshore OGP, HEMS intermediate level.
My opinion.

[rotor-rooter]

It's taken some time for this to occur and Waypoint has been a widely discussed subject within the industry for the last 6 months. The biggest question is whether this is the beginning of a greater round of readjustment in the industry, with additional players in every arena of the market in similarly dire straits.
https://www.verticalmag.com/press-re...cy-protection/

[SASless]

Bristow Australia are, very unfortunately, letting experienced long time pilots go. It’s very bad in that camp right now.

Once Bristow saw the Founder part with the company...."Loyalty" departed with him.

Unlike the Airlines....sadly Seniority means nothing in the Helicopter Industry.

It might garner you some extra Schillings but at some point it becomes a poison pill that ends your career progression or employment.

The Operators cry and moan about the lack of loyalty of the pilots and engineers but refuse to look at their own conduct.

The cyclical nature of the business is part of the cause for the problem as few Operators can absorb downturns in business without discarding excess staff.

I can recall Pilots in the Gulf of Mexico being let go immediately upon landing at the Operation's Base....following the loss of a Contract (talk about no notice, no redundancy pay, no offers of compensation whatsoever).

Then....the very next day the same pilots were asked to return as there had been a new contract obtained.

In the old Days....Bristow had a "Gardening Leave" policy that was very much liked by those who wished to take some time off at reduced pay....but those days are long gone.

[212man]

Can somebody translate this into English?
https://helihub.com/2018/11/28/brist...News+Update%29

[TeeS]

Originally Posted by 212man

Can somebody translate this into English?
https://helihub.com/2018/11/28/brist...News+Update%29

This might help!

TeeS

[9Aplus]

One word summary&translation: default

[rotor-rooter]

More turbulence coming? GE considering disposing of GECAS, which includes Milestone. https://www.cnbc.com/2019/01/17/john...0-billion.html

"Moreover, we do not believe that GECAS would fetch anywhere close to the book value of its assets in a potential sale, while the proceeds to GE could end up a fraction of the sale price," Inch added.

GECAS had a "book value" of $40.6 billion as of the third quarter of 2018. Inch said he believes the business is "worth far less" than that. Instead, Inch said "third party assessment" shows the GECAS aircraft leasing portfolio is worth $25.8 billion, rather than $32.8 billion, and the GECAS helicopter leasing group is worth $2 billion, rather than $4 billion.

And the potential buyer? https://www.cnbc.com/2019/01/07/buyo...t-sources.html

Apollo's bid comes as GE's new chief executive officer, Larry Culp, is battling to restore profits and slash debt after the industrial conglomerate lost $22.8 billion in the third quarter, mostly from its ailing power unit.

[JulieAndrews]

Would it be possible to disseminate company Terms and Conditions here?
Always a good indicator of 'State of Industry'.
I cant kick the ball rolling as don't have any - or at least none that would stand up in an employment tribunal !

[barbados sky]

Rumour that Bristow Australia will be forced to make more pilot and other redundancies as Inpex has cancelled its contract in Broome. Inpex was the only long term contract Bristow Australia had for the 92s. Obviously the flight attendant idea was not successful.

So Bristow is only left with the Beach Energy contract in Tooradin which is only 1x AW139 with a backup and some drilling work in Karratha coming up. Not much to run the expensive head office, big hangars in Karratha and Air North.

Sorry for all the Bristow people who are going to lose their jobs because of Darwin and Perth management.

[Evil Twin]

Originally Posted by barbados sky

Rumour that Bristow Australia will be forced to make more pilot and other redundancies as Inpex has cancelled its contract in Broome. Inpex was the only long term contract Bristow Australia had for the 92s. Obviously the flight attendant idea was not successful.

So Bristow is only left with the Beach Energy contract in Tooradin which is only 1x AW139 with a backup and some drilling work in Karratha coming up. Not much to run the expensive head office, big hangars in Karratha and Air North.

Sorry for all the Bristow people who are going to lose their jobs because of Darwin and Perth management.

Bristow Australia has been run into the ground, will the last one to leave please turn out the lights.

[Nescafe]

BHA is well on its way to achieving its goal of “Target Zero” assuming the “Zero” is pilots, engineers, clients, aircraft etc.

There will be more than a few pilots rueing their part in the ‘no vote’ campaign, when the company asked them to accept a pay cut. They declined a 15% cut then, only to face a 100% cut now!

[HeliMannUK]

Originally Posted by Nescafe

BHA is well on its way to achieving its goal of “Target Zero” assuming the “Zero” is pilots, engineers, clients, aircraft etc.

There will be more than a few pilots rueing their part in the ‘no vote’ campaign, when the company asked them to accept a pay cut. They declined a 15% cut then, only to face a 100% cut now!

The writing is normally on the wall at that point you could say.

[driftwood1]

Pretty sure it wasn’t Darwin or Perth managements idea to fill a helicopter with strippers !!!!!!!!!!! that lays squarely in the hands of the driver.
i wonder if it was realised that this little stunt was going to have such an impact on so many others.
selfish Tool...........

Originally Posted by barbados sky

Rumour that Bristow Australia will be forced to make more pilot and other redundancies as Inpex has cancelled its contract in Broome. Inpex was the only long term contract Bristow Australia had for the 92s. Obviously the flight attendant idea was not successful.

So Bristow is only left with the Beach Energy contract in Tooradin which is only 1x AW139 with a backup and some drilling work in Karratha coming up. Not much to run the expensive head office, big hangars in Karratha and Air North.

Sorry for all the Bristow people who are going to lose their jobs because of Darwin and Perth management.

[Nescafe]

I doubt that the incident you relate to would have made much difference, the die was cast a long time ago. To have 140+pilots 4 years ago and be down to 25-30 today is much more indicative of the sources of the problems.

Poor management during challenging times and a concerted campaign by some senior pilots to scupper the pilot body’s offer to reduce salaries to help out. They are about to reap what they sowed.

[Evil Twin]

Nescafe I agree with your first point but not necessarily your second. No pay cut in the world can change the fact that if the company needs ten bums on seats they will only pay for ten bums. There is no loyalty from either side in business anymore, if there's any it will come from the employee and very rarely the employer, they generally are only interested in the opinion of the bean counters.

I could let the evil go on an uber rant on this subject but I won't.

Cheers ET

[Nescafe]

No pay cut in the world can change the fact that if the company needs ten bums on seats they will only pay for ten bums.

That is true, but if those 10 bums cost less, then operating costs are less and then tenders can be cheaper, and then there’s more chance of hanging on to your hard earned market share.

[Evil Twin]

Originally Posted by Nescafe

That is true, but if those 10 bums cost less, then operating costs are less and then tenders can be cheaper, and then there’s more chance of hanging on to your hard earned market share.

or the exec’s get a bigger bonus and the bus drivers get a bigger anal probing 😉

[SASless]

There will be more than a few pilots rueing their part in the ‘no vote’ campaign, when the company asked them to accept a pay cut. They declined a 15% cut then, only to face a 100% cut now!

What cuts were the kind hearted folks in Management going to take to prove their commitment to the concept of "helping out"?

Perhaps that played a role in these hard headed pilots voting as they did.

[212man]

Originally Posted by Evil Twin

or the exec’s get a bigger bonus and the bus drivers get a bigger anal probing 😉

Yes, I recall the BHL bonus scheme - "don't bonus, we'll bone you"!

[industry insider]

Driftwood

Pretty sure it wasn’t Darwin or Perth managements idea to fill a helicopter with strippers !!!!!!!!!!! that lays squarely in the hands of the driver.
i wonder if it was realised that this little stunt was going to have such an impact on so many others.
selfish Tool...........

As Nescafe says, silly but probably had nothing to do with the Inpex contract being cancelled after 5 years. It was originally a 10 year contract. Its more likely the Inpex field coming into production and now not needing as many helicopters. Mind you, Inpex had 2 operators to choose from when it came to downsizing.