The future of UK SAR, post SAR-H

[4thright]

Flounder and JimF, I think you both raise good points. From within the present civvy provided service I think we recognise that the upscaling is not without its challenges, and it certainly is not just a larger amount of the same.
I think too while the likelihood of Bristow failing is small, thats not how the Government and its civ servants will have been looking at this in its entirety. They are scarred with quite a few other failures. despite the companies being apparently sound at the contract outset.
As for 2 contractors being more costly, thats not neccessarily so either depending on just how a particular bidder may have wanted to run the service, especially if they are going to draw on their wider management services from Aberdeen. I just wanted the possibility of 2 operators sharing the service as it would have given us all more choice as to who to work for, and the likely competitveness that would result. Seems odd that the DfT went for 2 for the GAP contract (which has yet to start - so no experience of how it works yet) and has given up on the idea for the longer term solution. There's now't as strange as civil servants - especially ones without a noodle of aviation experience in any of them!