US firm was awarded €800m search-and-rescue contract in 2023
Philip Bartlett of Bristow Ireland. Photo: Frank McGrath
US firm Bristow, which is taking over the operation of Ireland’s airborne coastguard search-and-rescue service, received $2.8m (€2.5m) from the Government in the first quarter of this year under its contract.
The transition of the service to Bristow began last year, but has hit a number of delays. Bristow, whose director in Ireland is Philip Bartlett, revealed the first payments made under the contract in its quarterly results filed this week.
Bristow, which won the €800m government contract in 2023 to operate the search-and-rescue helicopter service, had originally intended to take over the first search-and-rescue base from incumbent CHC in October last year and the remaining three by summer this year.
However, the Irish Independent reported last month that the transfer of search-and-rescue helicopter bases to Bristow from CHC has been significantly delayed again, with the base at Waterford now not due to be handed over to the company until next year.
Dublin is now set to be operated by Bristow from July 1, according to a circular sent to CHC staff last month. Sligo will not transfer until December 16. Waterford will not be taken over by Bristow until February 1 next year. Last February, Transport Minister Darragh O’Brien said the Sligo base would be handed over to Bristow on April 30 this year.
“To ensure overall safety, the department will not hesitate to revise transition timelines whilst also ensuring the two contracted operators – CHC Ireland and Bristow Ireland – continued to provide sufficient capacity, expertise and resources to maintain safe search-and-rescue operations on a 24/7 basis across all areas of Ireland’s search-and-rescue region,” a spokesperson for the Department of Transport said last month.
“The revision of these transition dates does not incur any additional costs to the Exchequer.”
Bristow has also warned that tariffs introduced by US president Donald Trump on some aircraft parts and metals could affect its repair and maintenance bill in the US. However, it does not expect the additional cost to be material. The company generates 85pc of its revenue outside the US.
Bristow CEO Christopher Bradshaw said the tariffs would introduce “incremental costs and additional complexity” to the broader industry. “The new tariff regime has negative implications for repairs and maintenance costs on our US-based aircraft and introduces additional uncertainty for component delivery timeline,” he added.
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