Issue 338: Collective Hope

Regulatory reform, the low oil price and rapidly-ageing LAMEs are just three of the challenges facing Australia’s rotary-wing operators, but the industry remains collectively hopeful of better times ahead

At a glance, Australia’s helicopter industry in 2016 remains in a state of flux, thanks to the Civil Aviation Safety Authority’s (CASA) controversial regulatory reforms and the decline in offshore helicopter operations supporting oil exploration and production, a flow-on effect from the world’s oversupply and now low crude oil prices.

As the industry comes together for the second biennial Australian Helicopter Industry Association’s (AHIA) Rotortech conference and exposition, held at the Novotel Twin Waters Resort on the Sunshine Coast over May 27-29, association president Peter Crook remains realistic about the outlook of the industry.