Interesting first post RT.
Welcome to the dangerous world of posting on pprune.
Originally Posted by
Rho Tarbled
Won't all these delays and all the extra training swapping types be costing Bristows a great deal of money?
Yes.
Originally Posted by
Rho Tarbled
Is any of that cost being passed on to the taxpayer?
You might need to examine the relationship between HM Gov and Leonardo to get the full picture on that subject. Guess who wanted a British-built aircraft? Westland Affair Mk XIII?
Originally Posted by
Rho Tarbled
Are there any contract penalties for not meeting the contract spec for over a year?
The contract spec is met at Inverness and Prestwick since the S-92A meets the Lot 2 spec (for simplicity, though it is actually a Lot 3 contract). The problem is that at Lydd and St Athans you have aircraft that are too small to meet the Lot 2 spec. Penalties are expected to be applied.
Lydd and St Athans were to get early deployment of the AW189. Prestwick is now moved up the list and will be the first base after Lee-on-Solent to get the new aircraft. (Because it involves a change-over from the GAP-South contract with CHC, the Lee date is fixed.) Getting Lydd and St Athans changed would have brought penalties to a halt as early as possible as well as working-up AW189 SAR experience in a more benign environment. One might speculate that whoever has arranged for Prestwick to move up will pay a price for that change.