Today the U.S. Forest Service announced contract awards for seven additional large and very large air tankers. The aircraft being added to the exclusive use contracted fleet are four BAe-146s operated by Neptune Aviation, two RJ85s flown by Aero-FLite, and one DC-10 operated by 10 Tanker Air Carrier.
The contract solicitation, issued November 26, 2015, is for what the USFS calls “next generation” air tankers, which must be turbine or turbofan (jet) powered, can cruise at 300 knots (345 mph), and have a retardant capacity of at least 3,000 gallons. The DC-10 carries 11,600 gallons, while the others can hold up to about 3,000 gallons.
This brings the total number of next-gen air tankers on exclusive use contracts to 14. There are also seven “legacy” air tankers on exclusive use contracts, all operated by Neptune. Six are Korean War vintage P2Vs which usually carry about 2,100 gallons and are powered by two 18-cylinder radial engines. There is also one BAe-146 on the legacy contract.
These new next-gen awards, which begin this year, are for a five-year period with options for five additional years, with at least 160 days of mandatory availability every year.
The daily rates for Neptune’s BAe-146s, which is paid even if the aircraft is not used that day, varies during the possible 10-year period from $29,000 to $32,640 each day, while the hourly flight rate is from $8,000 to $9,274.
The daily rate for Aero-Flite’s Rj85 are from $28,581 to $35,546, and their flight rate is $7,559 to $9,862 per hour. The daily rate for the DC-10, a Very Large Air Tanker, are from $34,000 to $35,000, and the hourly rate is $13,600.
These rates do not include the cost of fuel, which will be paid by the government.
Most of the contracts the U.S. Forest Service has attempted to issue in recent years for large and very large air tankers have been protested, which suspends the activation of the contract until the Government Accountability Office adjudicates the dispute. This contract has already been protested by Coulson Aviation and Erickson Aero Tanker even before the closing date of the solicitation. However, the GAO decided in July to deny the protests. But that does not mean that there will not be additional protests now that the contracts have been awarded.
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10 Comments
What’s the status of the MD-87 – I believe they went through another grid test this fall and had a major component or engine failure a few weeks ago. Is the second MD-87 on active status or grounded pending review of the recent problem. Did the MD-87 ever meet the Coverage Level 8 requirement?
Bill I think they got the fix done last year to get it back up to CL8, but whether retardant is still getting sucked in and whether that caused the engine failure I haven’t heard. I suspect the jury is still out on the 87. I also suspect their bid prices were probably higher than the others, but that’s just an educated guess. These awards were announced a while back I thought, before the engine failure. How’s the 747 coming along?
JM, these awards were not announced earlier. You might be thinking of the protests that were filed before the solicitation closed.
Yeah, not sure, maybe that’s why those who protested… protested, because those 2 weren’t of these 3 companies awarded contracts. Maybe this was the official announcement after the protest was resolved?
Does the USFS require these new aircraft to stand down one day a week for maintenance/crew rest?
Here is an excerpt from the contract specs:
Pilots (and mechanics) must have 2 days off in 14, but tankers typically go 6 on 1 off. It would be in the contract if it was 7 day coverage, which would require relief crews, and would increase bid prices accordingly. I don’t think there are as many initial attack rated captains as there used to be with all the new jets, but with all the activity the last 2 years perhaps more have been qualified. Heli-rappel, helitack and air attack contracts typically specify 7 day coverage so qualified relief crews have to be provided.
I love how the contract is supposed to start this year when the season is over. Unless this year means the 2016 fiscal year. Glad to see Neptune finally got a Next Gen contract. That should have happened a long time ago.
Do they have enough Tanker carded pilots??
Interesting Do you have any info on the rates the SEATS are getting?
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