Brad Wszola said the incident made him feel like a “second-class citizen”, while his wife Jenny was later told by the airline that its status as a low fares carrier meant it could only provide “limited specific assistance” to passengers.

An ATSB preliminary report revealed the bird’s carcass was located near the main wreckage site, while investigators found no underlying defects with the aircraft’s engine, structure or flight controls.

Last year Carbonix raised $6.3 million in late seed funding to expand its services into North America – with Quickstep a $1 million investor.

The prime said it’s calling for potential suppliers with “homegrown talent and expertise” to expand its existing footprint of 200 personnel working on Sikorsky helicopters.