Bristow is the provider of helicopter search and rescue (SAR) services in the United Kingdom, on behalf of His Majesty's Coastguard. Bristow has a long history of providing world class SAR services, beginning in 1971 at Royal Air Force Manston. Bristow was awarded the initial 10-year contract in March 2013 which transitioned the service from the military to Bristow. This contract was extended to run through December 2026. Employing approximately 360 people, Bristow operates from 10 strategically located SAR helicopter bases around the United Kingdom on behalf of HM Coastguard to respond to all SAR incidents for the whole of the United Kingdom.

Bristow was awarded a £1.6 billion 10-year contract for the Second-Generation Search and Rescue Aviation (UKSAR2G) program by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA), an executive agency of the Department for Transport. As part of the new contract, Bristow will continue to operate from their current 10 bases and will launch two new seasonal bases in Fort William and Carlisle, to serve areas around two of the busiest locations for summer tourism. The Fort William and Carlisle bases will operate 12 hours a day from April to September. All other helicopter bases will continue to be operational 24 hours a day.

The new contract will see the U.K. search and rescue region benefit from innovation and advances in technology to save more lives, even more quickly. We will transition from the current contracts starting from September 30, 2024 through to December 31, 2026, to ensure a continuation of critical search and rescue aviation services across the whole of the U.K.