The new operator of the Irish Coast Guard’s search and rescue helicopter service has acknowledged that “there may be limited periods when aviation readiness is temporarily reduced.”
Bristow Ireland was confirmed last year as the preferred bidder to provide the new Search and Rescue (SAR) Aviation Services contract for the Department of Transport and Irish Coast Guard. The contract is for a period of 10 years and worth €800m.
As part of an ongoing transition process, staff from the current service provider, CHC Ireland (CHCI), continue to migrate to the Bristow Ireland. CHCI’s contract expires on June 30th 2025 by which time, BIL’s transition process should be complete and all four bases taken over.
It has emerged that the Shannon based helicopter, Rescue 115, the first of Bristow Ireland’s new helicopters to enter service, has been unavailable at times to undertake missions.
The new search and rescue helicopter has been unable to provide full search and rescue cover since it commenced operations at Shannon Airport on December 9th last several weeks later than scheduled.
Since December 12th, Rescue 115 has been restricted to limited search and rescue (SAR) operations. SAR flights are operated by a crew of four comprising two pilots, a winchman/paramedic and winch operator.
It’s understood that at times, only three crew members have been available to work so they could only undertake ‘limited SAR operations (LIM-SAR).’ It’s believed a three person crew can carry out some training but can also undertake helicopter emergency medical service (HEMS) tasking when only one crew member is required in the rear of the aircraft.
Rescue 115 has been curtailed in what operations it can carry out between 8.00pm and 8.00am the following each night since December 12th.
On Wednesday of this week, the Sligo-based Irish Coast Guard helicopter, still operated by CHC Ireland, undertook an operation to airlift a patient from Inis Mór, the largest of the three Aran Islands, to University Hospital Galway. It’s understood that Rescue 115 was unavailable to carry out the mission as it was offline until midday that day.
A Bristow spokesperson said: “Bristow Ireland has recently commenced aviation support on behalf of the Irish Coastguard (IRCG) from Shannon Airport, operating from approved bespoke facilities ahead of taking possession of the permanent Shannon SAR base from the outgoing operator.
As Shannon operations become established, there may be limited periods when aviation readiness is temporarily reduced as the phased transition continues. Bristow Ireland is working diligently with key stakeholders and it is anticipated these early-stage issues will be resolved shortly.
The national SAR service is unaffected and bases continue to operate a synchronised service, providing a network of emergency support across the country.”
The Department of Transport has said it cannot comment on or provide any information about the availability of the Irish Coast Guard’s helicopter search and rescue bases at Shannon, Dublin, Waterford or Sligo.
A spokesperson of the Department of Transport said: “The Department of Transport’s overarching objective is the safe and effective transition of the Search and Rescue aviation contract without interruption to services.
The transition of the contract commenced on 1st November 2024 with the transfer of a group of CHC staff to Bristow Ireland. Bristow Ireland assumed responsibility for delivery of all services from Shannon on 8th December 2024.
As has been proven over many years the existence of four bases provides a resilience for service delivery so that when individual bases become temporarily unavailable, the workload is shared amongst the other bases with the specific requirements for each mission being assessed as they arise.
In the case of both contracts, availability of any base can range from full availability to partial availability to temporary unavailability. The Department does not share information on availability of bases at any given time and does not consider it would be appropriate to do so in the case of the new contract.”
The spokesperson added: “The Department is also cognisant of ongoing legal challenges to contract award dating back to 2023 and the Department is constrained in making any public comments in relation to the contract.
The Department acknowledges the collaboration between the two contractors in recognising the resilience of inter-base support and this will continue to be an important element of the transition programme.”
As per the contract between the Department of Transport and Bristow Ireland Limited, all four bases will be ‘live’ by mid-2025 as per contract.”
Bristow will operate a fleet of six specialist Leonardo AW189 helicopters the first of which arrived in Ireland from Gosport in South East England in August. The new SAR contract will see Bristow Ireland operate from the current bases at Shannon (Rescue 115), Sligo (Rescue 118) and Waterford (Rescue 117). The Rescue 116 base will move from Dublin Airport to Weston Airport on the Dublin/Kildare border.