v3.4.0.3

Investment in Variable Interest Entity | 3 Months Ended
--- | ---
Mar. 31, 2016
Text Block [Abstract] |
Investment in Variable Interest Entity | 11. INVESTMENT IN VARIABLE INTEREST ENTITY We account for our investment in our West African operations as a variable interest entity, which is defined as an entity that either (a) has insufficient equity to permit the entity to finance its operations without additional subordinated financial support or (b) has equity investors who lack the characteristics of a controlling financial interest. As of March 31, 2016, we had a 49% investment in the common stock of PHI Century Limited (“PHIC”), a Ghanaian entity. We acquired our 49% interest on May 26, 2011, PHIC’s date of incorporation. The purpose of PHIC is to provide oil and gas flight services in Ghana and the West African region. For the quarters ended March 31, 2016 and 2015, we recorded a loss in equity of unconsolidated affiliate of $0 million and $0.1 million relative to our 49% equity ownership, respectively. We had $1.5 million of trade receivables as of March 31, 2016 from PHIC. At December 31, 2015, we recorded an allowance for bad debts against this trade receivable of $1.5 million, as we do not anticipate that we will be able to recover them. Our investment in the common stock of PHIC is included in Other assets on our Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets and was $0 million at March 31, 2016 and December 31, 2015.

X
- Definition Investment in variable interest entity disclosure. + References No definition available. + Details
Name: | phii_InvestmentInVariableInterestEntityDisclosureTextBlock
Namespace Prefix: | phii_
Data Type: | nonnum:textBlockItemType
Balance Type: | na
Period Type: | duration

X
- References No definition available. + Details
Name: | us-gaap_TextBlockAbstract
Namespace Prefix: | us-gaap_
Data Type: | xbrli:stringItemType
Balance Type: | na
Period Type: | duration