COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES (Tables)

9 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2016

Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract]

Aircraft purchase contracts table

As shown in the table below, we expect to make additional capital expenditures over the next five fiscal years to purchase additional aircraft. As of December 31, 2016, we had 34 aircraft on order and options to acquire an additional four aircraft. Although a similar number of our existing aircraft may be sold during the same period, the additional aircraft on order will provide incremental fleet capacity in terms of revenue and operating income.

	Three Months Ending March 31, 2017		Fiscal Year Ending March 31,
			2018		2019		2020		2021 and thereafter(1)		Total
Commitments as of December 31, 2016: (2)
Number of aircraft:
Medium	—		5		—		—		—		5
Large	—		—		5		4		14		23
U.K. SAR	2		4		—		—		—		6
	2		9		5		4		14		34
Related expenditures (in thousands) (3)
Medium and large	$	—	$	2,263	$	92,735	$	72,133	$	194,624	$	361,755
U.K. SAR	4,633		58,208		—		—		—		62,841
	$	4,633	$	60,471	$	92,735	$	72,133	$	194,624	$	424,596
Options as of December 31, 2016:
Number of aircraft:
Large	—		2		2		—		—		4
Related expenditures (in thousands)(3)	$	—	$	43,088	$	30,410	$	—	$	—	$	73,498

_____________ 

⁽¹⁾  Includes $83.7 million for five aircraft orders that can be cancelled prior to delivery dates. During the nine months endedDecember 31, 2016, we made non-refundable deposits of $4.5 million related to these aircraft.

⁽²⁾  Signed client contracts are currently in place that will utilize six of these U.K. SAR aircraft.

⁽³⁾  Includes progress payments on aircraft scheduled to be delivered in future periods.

Rollforward schedule of aircraft purchase orders and options

The following chart presents an analysis of our aircraft orders and options during fiscal year 2017:

	Three Months Ended
	December 31, 2016				September 30, 2016				June 30, 2016
	Orders		Options		Orders		Options		Orders	Options
Beginning of period	35		6		36		10		36	14
Aircraft delivered	(1	)	—		(6	)	—		—	—
Aircraft ordered	—		—		5		—		—	—
Expired options	—		(2	)	—		(4	)	—	(4	)
End of period	34		4		35		6		36	10

Aircraft lease table

The following is a summary of the terms related to aircraft leased under operating leases with original or remaining terms in excess of one year as of December 31, 2016:

End of Lease Term	Number of Aircraft
Three months ending March 31, 2017 to fiscal year 2018	19
Fiscal year 2019 to fiscal year 2021	57
Fiscal year 2022 to fiscal year 2025	17
	93

Schedule of separation programs

The expense related to the VSPs and ISPs for the three and nine months endedDecember 31, 2016 and 2015 is as follows (in thousands):

	Three Months Ended   December 31,				Nine Months Ended   December 31,
	2016		2015		2016		2015
VSP:
Direct cost	$	179	$	661	$	1,624	$	7,338
General and administrative	—		234		23		831
Total	$	179	$	895	$	1,647	$	8,169
ISP:
Direct cost	$	464	$	2,184	$	5,360	$	4,745
General and administrative	102		4,269		8,697		8,125
Total	$	566	$	6,453	$	14,057	$	12,870