SUPPLEMENTAL CONDENSED CONSOLIDATING FINANCIAL INFORMATION BS (Details) - USD ($) $ in Thousands	Mar. 31, 2016	Mar. 31, 2015	Mar. 31, 2014	Mar. 31, 2013
Condensed Financial Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Cash and cash equivalents	$ 104,310	$ 104,146	$ 204,341	$ 215,623
Accounts receivable	249,317	258,618
Inventories	142,503	147,169	11,100
Assets held for sale	43,783	57,827
Prepaid expenses and other current assets	53,183	70,091
Total current assets	593,096	637,851
Intercompany investment	0	0
Investment in unconsolidated affiliates	194,952	216,376
Intercompany notes receivable	0	0
Total property and equipment, at cost	2,823,675	2,665,828
Less - Accumulated depreciation and amortization	(540,423)	(508,727)
Total property and equipment, net	2,283,252	2,157,101
Goodwill	29,990	75,628	56,680
Other assets	170,572	143,764
Total assets	3,271,862	3,230,720
Accounts payable	96,966	84,193
Accrued liabilities	201,605	224,507
Deferred taxes	1,881	17,704
Short-term borrowings and current maturities of long-term debt	62,716	18,730
Contingent consideration	29,522	33,938
Deferred sale leaseback advance - current	0	55,934
Total current liabilities	392,690	435,006
Long-term debt, less current maturities	1,078,173	845,692
Intercompany notes payable	0	0
Accrued pension liabilities	70,107	99,576
Other liabilities and deferred credits	33,273	39,782
Deferred taxes	172,254	165,655
Redeemable noncontrolling interests	15,473	26,223
Common stock	377	376
Additional paid-in capital	801,173	781,837
Retained earnings	1,172,273	1,284,442
Accumulated other comprehensive income (loss)	(289,819)	(270,329)	(156,506)	(199,683)
Treasury stock	(184,796)	(184,796)
Total Bristow Group stockholders' investment	1,499,208	1,611,530
Noncontrolling interests	10,684	7,256
Total stockholders' investment	1,509,892	1,618,786
Total liabilities, redeemable noncontrolling interests and stockholders' investment	3,271,862	3,230,720
Land and building
Condensed Financial Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Total property and equipment, at cost	253,098	171,959
Aircraft and equipment
Condensed Financial Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Total property and equipment, at cost	2,570,577	2,493,869
Parent Company Only
Condensed Financial Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Cash and cash equivalents	35,241	126	4,640	31,853
Accounts receivable	768,641	377,158
Inventories	0	0
Assets held for sale	0	0
Prepaid expenses and other current assets	5,048	4,850
Total current assets	808,930	382,134
Intercompany investment	2,207,516	1,410,347
Investment in unconsolidated affiliates	0	0
Intercompany notes receivable	153,078	1,184,335
Total property and equipment, at cost	142,527	111,287
Less - Accumulated depreciation and amortization	(23,556)	(16,431)
Total property and equipment, net	118,971	94,856
Goodwill	0	0
Other assets	56,562	43,423
Total assets	3,345,057	3,115,095
Accounts payable	208,230	203,700
Accrued liabilities	26,886	31,805
Deferred taxes	88	(3,661)
Short-term borrowings and current maturities of long-term debt	28,000	9,088
Contingent consideration	0	0
Deferred sale leaseback advance - current		0
Total current liabilities	263,204	240,932
Long-term debt, less current maturities	1,053,200	812,536
Intercompany notes payable	0	100,000
Accrued pension liabilities	0	0
Other liabilities and deferred credits	12,278	17,144
Deferred taxes	147,631	141,771
Redeemable noncontrolling interests	0	0
Common stock	377	376
Additional paid-in capital	801,173	781,837
Retained earnings	1,172,273	1,284,442
Accumulated other comprehensive income (loss)	78,306	(80,604)
Treasury stock	(184,796)	(184,796)
Total Bristow Group stockholders' investment	1,867,333	1,801,255
Noncontrolling interests	1,411	1,457
Total stockholders' investment	1,868,744	1,802,712
Total liabilities, redeemable noncontrolling interests and stockholders' investment	3,345,057	3,115,095
Parent Company Only | Land and building
Condensed Financial Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Total property and equipment, at cost	4,776	2,830
Parent Company Only | Aircraft and equipment
Condensed Financial Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Total property and equipment, at cost	137,751	108,457
Guarantor Subsidiaries
Condensed Financial Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Cash and cash equivalents	3,393	884	0	5,370
Accounts receivable	353,729	342,239
Inventories	37,185	44,285
Assets held for sale	38,771	54,695
Prepaid expenses and other current assets	(1,843)	7,035
Total current assets	431,235	449,138
Intercompany investment	104,435	111,380
Investment in unconsolidated affiliates	0	0
Intercompany notes receivable	13,787	0
Total property and equipment, at cost	1,206,805	1,165,164
Less - Accumulated depreciation and amortization	(238,644)	(223,245)
Total property and equipment, net	968,161	941,919
Goodwill	0	4,756
Other assets	743	988
Total assets	1,518,361	1,508,181
Accounts payable	475,118	369,854
Accrued liabilities	31,371	37,860
Deferred taxes	1,914	2,503
Short-term borrowings and current maturities of long-term debt	0	0
Contingent consideration	0	0
Deferred sale leaseback advance - current		55,934
Total current liabilities	508,403	466,151
Long-term debt, less current maturities	0	0
Intercompany notes payable	108,952	131,075
Accrued pension liabilities	0	0
Other liabilities and deferred credits	6,935	8,379
Deferred taxes	3,670	6,346
Redeemable noncontrolling interests	0	0
Common stock	4,996	4,996
Additional paid-in capital	9,291	9,291
Retained earnings	876,114	881,943
Accumulated other comprehensive income (loss)	0	0
Treasury stock	0	0
Total Bristow Group stockholders' investment	890,401	896,230
Noncontrolling interests	0	0
Total stockholders' investment	890,401	896,230
Total liabilities, redeemable noncontrolling interests and stockholders' investment	1,518,361	1,508,181
Guarantor Subsidiaries | Land and building
Condensed Financial Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Total property and equipment, at cost	63,976	50,946
Guarantor Subsidiaries | Aircraft and equipment
Condensed Financial Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Total property and equipment, at cost	1,142,829	1,114,218
Non-Guarantor Subsidiaries
Condensed Financial Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Cash and cash equivalents	65,676	103,136	200,147	178,400
Accounts receivable	373,963	447,776
Inventories	105,318	102,884
Assets held for sale	5,012	3,132
Prepaid expenses and other current assets	49,978	58,206
Total current assets	599,947	715,134
Intercompany investment	145,168	0
Investment in unconsolidated affiliates	194,952	216,376
Intercompany notes receivable	3,600	0
Total property and equipment, at cost	1,474,343	1,389,377
Less - Accumulated depreciation and amortization	(278,223)	(269,051)
Total property and equipment, net	1,196,120	1,120,326
Goodwill	29,990	70,872
Other assets	113,267	99,353
Total assets	2,283,044	2,222,061
Accounts payable	296,860	289,838
Accrued liabilities	401,031	172,851
Deferred taxes	(121)	18,862
Short-term borrowings and current maturities of long-term debt	34,716	9,642
Contingent consideration	29,522	33,938
Deferred sale leaseback advance - current		0
Total current liabilities	762,008	525,131
Long-term debt, less current maturities	24,973	33,156
Intercompany notes payable	81,422	1,065,918
Accrued pension liabilities	70,107	99,576
Other liabilities and deferred credits	14,060	21,711
Deferred taxes	20,953	17,538
Redeemable noncontrolling interests	15,473	26,223
Common stock	130,348	22,876
Additional paid-in capital	284,048	284,048
Retained earnings	807,131	133,559
Accumulated other comprehensive income (loss)	63,248	(13,474)
Treasury stock	0	0
Total Bristow Group stockholders' investment	1,284,775	427,009
Noncontrolling interests	9,273	5,799
Total stockholders' investment	1,294,048	432,808
Total liabilities, redeemable noncontrolling interests and stockholders' investment	2,283,044	2,222,061
Non-Guarantor Subsidiaries | Land and building
Condensed Financial Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Total property and equipment, at cost	184,346	118,183
Non-Guarantor Subsidiaries | Aircraft and equipment
Condensed Financial Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Total property and equipment, at cost	1,289,997	1,271,194
Eliminations
Condensed Financial Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Cash and cash equivalents	0	0	$ (446)	$ 0
Accounts receivable	(1,247,016)	(908,555)
Inventories	0	0
Assets held for sale	0	0
Prepaid expenses and other current assets	0	0
Total current assets	(1,247,016)	(908,555)
Intercompany investment	(2,457,119)	(1,521,727)
Investment in unconsolidated affiliates	0	0
Intercompany notes receivable	(170,465)	(1,184,335)
Total property and equipment, at cost	0	0
Less - Accumulated depreciation and amortization	0	0
Total property and equipment, net	0	0
Goodwill	0	0
Other assets	0	0
Total assets	(3,874,600)	(3,614,617)
Accounts payable	(883,242)	(779,199)
Accrued liabilities	(257,683)	(18,009)
Deferred taxes	0	0
Short-term borrowings and current maturities of long-term debt	0	0
Contingent consideration	0	0
Deferred sale leaseback advance - current		0
Total current liabilities	(1,140,925)	(797,208)
Long-term debt, less current maturities	0	0
Intercompany notes payable	(190,374)	(1,296,993)
Accrued pension liabilities	0	0
Other liabilities and deferred credits	0	(7,452)
Deferred taxes	0	0
Redeemable noncontrolling interests	0	0
Common stock	(135,344)	(27,872)
Additional paid-in capital	(293,339)	(293,339)
Retained earnings	(1,683,245)	(1,015,502)
Accumulated other comprehensive income (loss)	(431,373)	(176,251)
Treasury stock	0	0
Total Bristow Group stockholders' investment	(2,543,301)	(1,512,964)
Noncontrolling interests	0	0
Total stockholders' investment	(2,543,301)	(1,512,964)
Total liabilities, redeemable noncontrolling interests and stockholders' investment	(3,874,600)	(3,614,617)
Eliminations | Land and building
Condensed Financial Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Total property and equipment, at cost	0	0
Eliminations | Aircraft and equipment
Condensed Financial Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Total property and equipment, at cost	$ 0	$ 0