EMPLOYEE BENEFIT PLANS

Pension Plans

The following table provides a detail of the components of net periodic pension cost (in thousands):



	Three Months Ended December 31,						Nine Months Ended December 31,
	2016			2015			2016			2015
Service cost for benefits earned during the period	$	1,696		$	2,349		$	5,450		$	7,121
Interest cost on pension benefit obligation	4,139			5,119			13,297			15,515
Expected return on assets	(5,601		)	(6,871		)	(17,992		)	(20,826		)
Amortization of unrecognized losses	1,699			2,110			5,454			6,395
Net periodic pension cost	$	1,933		$	2,707		$	6,209		$	8,205

The current estimate of our cash contributions required for fiscal year 2017 for our pension plans to be paid in fiscal year 2017 is $17.8 million, of which $12.6 million was paid during the nine months ended December 31, 2016.

Incentive Compensation

Stock–based awards are currently made under the Bristow Group Inc. 2007 Long-Term Incentive Plan (the “2007 Plan”). A maximum of 10,646,729 shares of common stock, par value $.01 per share (“Common Stock”), are reserved. Awards granted under the 2007 Plan may be in the form of stock options, stock appreciation rights, shares of restricted stock, other stock-based awards (payable in cash or Common Stock) or performance awards, or any combination thereof, and may be made to outside directors, employees or consultants. As of December 31, 2016, 4,326,151 shares remained available for grant under the 2007 Plan.

On May 23, 2016, our board of directors approved an amendment and restatement of the 2007 Plan, approved by our stockholders on August 3, 2016, that effected each of the following changes: (i) reserved an additional 5,246,729 “shares” (or 2,623,365 full value shares) that, when combined with “shares” remaining available for issuance under the 2007 Plan resulted in a total of approximately 6,400,000 “shares” (or approximately 3,200,000 full value shares) available for issuance under the amended and restated plan, with each option and stock appreciation right granted under the amended and restated plan counting as one “shares” against such total and with each incentive award that may be settled in Common Stock counting as two “shares” (or one full value share) against such total; (ii) increased the maximum share-based employee award under the amended and restated plan from 500,000 full value shares to 1,000,000 full value shares; (iii) set the maximum aggregate compensation and incentive awards that may be provided by the Company in any calendar year to any non-employee member of the board of directors at $1,125,000; and (iv) made other administrative and updating changes.

We have a number of other incentive and stock option plans which are described in Note 9 to our fiscal year 2016 Financial Statements.

Total stock-based compensation expense, which includes stock options and restricted stock, totaled $3.3 million and $6.3 million for the three months ended December 31, 2016 and 2015, respectively, and $9.5 million and $16.6 million for the nine months ended December 31, 2016 and 2015, respectively. Stock-based compensation expense has been allocated to our various regions.

During the nine months ended December 31, 2016, we awarded 642,753 shares of restricted stock at an average grant date fair value of $10.21 per share. Also during the nine months ended December 31, 2016, 1,024,168 stock options were granted. The following table shows the assumptions used to compute the stock-based compensation expense for stock options granted during the nine months ended December 31, 2016:



Risk free interest rate	1.07	%
Expected life (years)	5
Volatility	46.75	%
Dividend yield	2.74	%
Weighted average exercise price of options granted	$16.21 per option
Weighted average grant-date fair value of options granted	$2.16 per option

Performance cash awards vest and pay out in cash three years after the date of grant at varying levels depending on our performance in Total Shareholder Return against a peer group of companies. These awards were designed to tie a significant portion of total compensation to performance. One of the effects of this type of compensation is that it requires liability accounting which can result in volatility in earnings. The liability recorded for these awards as of December 31 and March 31, 2016 was $12.7 million and $15.8 million, respectively, and represents an accrual based on the fair value of the awards on those dates. The decrease in the liability during the nine months ended December 31, 2016 resulted from the payout in June 2016 of the awards granted in June 2013, partially offset by the value of the new awards granted in June 2016. Any changes in fair value of the awards in future quarters will increase or decrease the liability and impact results in those periods. The effect, either positive or negative, on future period earnings can vary based on factors including changes in our stock price or the stock prices of the peer group companies, as well as changes in other market and company-specific assumptions that are factored into the calculation of fair value of the performance cash awards.

Compensation related to the performance cash awards recorded as an expense of $3.1 million and $2.8 million during the three months ended December 31, 2016 and 2015, respectively, and an expense of $5.6 million and $4.5 million during the nine months ended December 31, 2016 and 2015, respectively.