Helicopters - Bristow finances 8 SAR machines - Rotor&Wing

Bristow to Finance 8 SAR Helos in UK

S.L. Fuller

Bristow Group now has funding to finance eight search and rescue (SAR) helicopters, which will be used under an SAR contract with the U.K. Department for Transport. The company said it has entered into two, seven-year secured equipment financings with The Royal Bank of Scotland's Lombard. The aggregate total for the financings is $200 million.

These seven-year terms have balloon payments at maturity, meaning that only a portion of the loan's principal balance is reduced or extinguished over the term, leaving a large final payment at the end. Bristow’s obligations will be secured by three Sikorsky S-92s for one creditor, and five Leonardo AW189s for the other.

Lombard is also playing a role in Bristow’s other U.K. SAR bases. Of its 10, nine bases are currently operational. The 10th base is expected to be operational by mid-2017. Credit facilities term out debt for Bristow through 2023. The new financings are expected to start by the end of March 2017, but are both subject to U.K. and U.S. governmental approvals.

SAR S-61N - Photo courtesy of CC-BY-SA-3.0

UK SAR Base Hits 500-Mission Milestone

S.L. Fuller

Her Majesty's Coastguard search and rescue helicopter base in Inverness, U.K., launched a civilian service on April 1, 2015. Since then the base, operated by Bristow Helicopters Ltd., has performed 500 missions, the company said. Crews operate from the new, purpose-built base at Inverness Airport, and provide services on land, at sea and in remote areas.

The Inverness base is one of the busiest, which the director of U.K. SAR contributes to its "proximity to Scotland's popular mountain ranges and coastal areas." It has been able to maintain an availability of over 98%. Bristow delivers SAR operations on behalf of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency on seven bases. Three more bases are expected to be included on a new contract in 2017.

 

Photo courtesy of David Jones / CC BY 2.0