Manitoba Govt Air Services to be Privatised

[mmm..bacon]

a new model was put in place where all crew (including doc if they keep them) was at hangar on standby.

Which Drs are you going to keep on unproductive standby at the airport? Pediatric specialists? Heart specialists? Trauma? etc... Much more efficient from a total system point-of-view to keep the Drs working at the hospital until they are needed for LifeFlight, IMO.

What sort of cabin alt can a 250/350 hold?

[Medevac1]

I am sure there are still old skyward staff just chomping at the bit, for Skyward (skycare) to return onto Manitoba soil. Remember, Skyward went into receivership and left the province to reemerge as Skycare in Ontario. Left behind a whole lot of staff here in Manitoba not being paid.

[flyinhigh]

If you need night coverage, get a shift system in place like ornge does. The way crews are flying now duty day wise (not just there but at every mb medevac operator) is insane.

3 years and 10 months to go I believe? But who is counting...

mmm, that system works great when you have endless funds to pay for things like over head via the tax payers dollars. If any private company staffed for that level of service without a dedicated contract (i.e. like all private medivac contracts across Canada) and no calls come in, guess what? Your outta business. In the Ornge model, those planes can sit for 6 months and they are still being paid for.

The way the schedule works at Fast/Vanguard is light years ahead of how many operate in the perennial black hole of not knowing when I'm resting or flying like Perimeter did in the not to distant past.

As for the flight and duty regs, couldn't agree more.

[digits_]

Depends on the rates they agree on. If you have no shifts and there are no calls for 6 months they could still go out of business. Even with no staff to pay for.

You could also do more calls if you have true 24hr coverage. That offsets the extra staff cost.

[bcat737]

The Procurement Services Branch published a letter dated today (April 16, 2019) that their department is ...

"in the midst of preparing the next steps in regards to the Air Ambulance portion of the RFP. At the appropriate time, we will be in contact with you regarding the next steps"

No-one has been awarded the contract, and not all potential proponents have presented.

In addition, Ottawa (Feds) have not signed off on this process. A majority of all funding for air ambulance services fall under FNIHB (google it), which also dictates that all contracts fall under Federal procurement laws.

[digits_]

FNIHB pays for some part of the calls, but they don't decide who gets to do the call in Manitoba. I forgot the name, but there's a central provincial dispatch unit that determines the order in which participants receive a call.

[FighterPilot]

MTCC. But that’s a whole different ball of yarn with regards to efficiency.

[nothingbeatsflying]

Looks like the gov't is about to pull the plug.

https://news.gov.mb.ca/news/index.html? ... 2019-06-06

[digits_]

Looks like the gov't is about to pull the plug.

https://news.gov.mb.ca/news/index.html? ... 2019-06-06

So what does that mean? Urgent lifeflight calls in their twin otter? Everything privatized? Weird article.

[North Shore]

Fibs, lies, and government press releases..

Recruiting staff for highly specialized positions is very difficult due to the specific qualifications and training required, as well as significant competition from private sector employers.

Indeed it is...but who in their right mind would quit any job to come and work for a program that has been under review for termination for the last 2 years? Also, there’s no significant private sector competition whatsoever...some of our pilots came from the private sector medevac field - none quit to go back there. Quit a stable roster out of a heated hangar in Winnipeg to go back to a rolling 14 hour duty day out of Ft. McLake with wing covers for de-icing?! FTS!
We had a good, stable program, with lots of well-experienced guys, all (most) of whom would have been glad to stick around for the long term. Once the privatization review was announced, out went the resumes, and people started leaving (4 of them to Air Canada alone). Better to take a good thing like AC than to wait until the program gets choked to death...

[greygoose]

So what does that mean? Urgent lifeflight calls in their twin otter? Everything privatized? Weird article.

From reading various news articles it sounds as though the work of the two citations is the only thing up from grabs anymore. As far as I gather, all basic stuff will remain as is. Now the question will be which company will be willing to say no to a good amount of basic calls(lots of lost $$$$$) to be able to put staff/aircraft on standby with fewer trips coming in for those dedicated lifeflight units? Less than a month to add tails and people for this specialized service will be no small undertaking unless they move current planes and staff used for basic trips over. No wonder every Mb medevac operator just posted job ads out the wazoo

[bobcaygeon]

95% of the medevac flying in MB is already done by the private industry. The only reason the industry isn't doing Code 4 is because they aren't permitted to carry the extra drugs or use the extra equipment even if its installed.

Other provinces permit allow all the Code 4 equipment onboard a King Air.

[seasonaldriver]

anyone read the articles from the MB govt and in the Winnipeg Free Press regarding Lifeflight? The govvie ain't nice.

[digits_]

Wondering how big the bond will be for private jet medevac pilots. And how quickly said pilots will leave again anyway...

[raw_data]

All I know is that if EIC gets Medevac contract I’m gone! Been doing Medevac in the province over a decade.

[North Shore]

Wondering how big the bond will be for private jet medevac pilots. And how quickly said pilots will leave again anyway...

Not really a concern...my understanding is that you can’t run jets off short gravel while you’re operating under CARS 70-whatever. So there won’t be any private jet medevacs unless someone ponies up for a PC24 - but then the operating costs will outweigh any cost savings from going to a private system.

The government screwed the pooch and taxpayers on this file...the *entire* Air Service cost ~$18 Million to run last year...the contract awarded to AirSpray/Babcock alone was for $170mill over 10 years, and now the taxpayer still has to pay for both general transport and LifeFlight as well( if the program continues - which is open for debate..)
I’d be surprised if the Treasury gets any change out of $25million a year for all three divisions of the Air Service.

[digits_]

Is the privatisation/reorganisation of the new winner-takes-all rfp still ongoing? Or has that been cancelled as well?

[703doge]

Election called for Sept 10

[phuckit]

As long as Keewatin doesn't get it, everything should be fine. They treat their staff terribly, and don't pay well. As a result they're hiring both pilots, and medical staff with very little experience. I feel bad for any patient that gets on one of their planes.

[North Shore]

And so, it ends...80 ish years of Manitoba Government Air Service ends at 0700 June 28, with an interim contract for Lifeflight being given to a Babcock/Fast Air consortium.