There are no surprises other than CHC departing so early. Maybe the similar issues are still prevalent within the company that lead them to "be dissapointed" with SAR-H being cancelled.
This competition is still a value for money competition, whatver Crab may like to guess at. Look up the first Industry Day presentation available on the DFT UK SAR web page to confirm.
The 30 year SAR-H PFI (for that what it was in contract terms) was underfunded by at least £1Bn and as far as I know, the SAR-H IPT got a shock from all bidders when the first realistic bid prices came in. Its the reason the Bristow UK Rescue consortium pulled out early. The funds available over such a long period of risk was calculated to be too low to allow any safe prospect of making any money. Its one of the reasons the new contracts are 10 years max to help minimise financial risks to the contract. Its now nearly 4 years since the previous SAR-H bidders calculated their prices and much has happened since. Prices have gone up (think fuel and aircrew pay amongst many things), and will continue doing so unless this project gets sorted by March as planned.
Looking forward to moving to the S92. Culdrose was always fun to operate from!
Last edited by 4thright; 1st Jan 2013 at 00:23.