Bush pilots offer US$16,000 outback adventures as Australian mines close

Sydney

THREE years ago, Scott McMillan bought a Fokker 70 jet to fly workers to sites including BHP Billiton Ltd's Olympic Dam, Australia's largest underground mine. He's now taking US retirees on outback adventures that cost almost US$16,000 a head.

Mr McMillan, managing director of Alliance Aviation Services Ltd, hopes tourism revenue will help reverse a slide in earnings since the company listed in 2011 as a provider of flights to the mining industry. He's thinking along the same lines as Reserve Bank of Australia governor Glenn Stevens, who hopes tourism can help offset slumping resources investment.

As Australia's decade-long, US$1 trillion commodities boom collapses, businesses…