The Ministry of Defence has paid around £6 billion to AirTanker Ltd since 2008 under a Private Finance Initiative (PFI) arrangement to lease and operate the Royal Air Force’s fleet of Voyager aerial refuelling and transport aircraft, a minister has confirmed.
The average annual cost of the Voyager PFI programme is approximately £353 million per year from 2008 to 2025.
Responding to a written parliamentary question from Labour peer Lord Sikka, Defence Minister Lord Coaker stated on 18 July: “The payments since 2008 for the AirTanker Limited concession contract total approximately £6 billion.” He added that 11 of the RAF’s 14 Voyagers are currently leased by the Ministry of Defence.
While the lease itself is longstanding and not new, the cumulative cost figure has drawn renewed attention. AirTanker Services Limited, the operator, and AirTanker Holdings Limited, the asset-owning company, are both private limited companies formed in 2007 and jointly headquartered at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire.
They are owned by a consortium comprising Airbus, Rolls-Royce plc, Babcock International, Cobham, Thales Group, and Equitix Investment Management. AirTanker’s structure allows it to manage, maintain and operate the aircraft on behalf of the UK government, while retaining the ability to lease unused aircraft for commercial charter.
The 14 Airbus A330 Multi Role Tanker Transport (MRTT) aircraft are designated Voyager in RAF service. They are based on the civilian A330-243 airliner and converted to military configuration by Airbus Defence and Space. These aircraft form the RAF’s sole air-to-air refuelling capability, replacing the VC10 and Tristar fleets.
The Voyager has a maximum fuel capacity of 111 tonnes and uses a hose-and-drogue system for refuelling. In addition to tanking duties, it can transport up to 291 passengers or be reconfigured for aeromedical evacuation, including intensive care support.
All RAF Voyagers operate from RAF Brize Norton, with aircraft available for both military and civil tasking under AirTanker’s Air Operator Certificate (AOC). The airline operates under the call sign “TOWLINE” and has previously provided capacity for civilian charter and sub-leasing to commercial carriers.
According to the Ministry of Defence, the fixed-term concession under which AirTanker operates is intended to provide a cost-effective, scalable air mobility and refuelling solution. The Voyager fleet continues to play a central role in operations ranging from RAF fast jet deployments to strategic airlift and support to allied air operations overseas.
Whilst I don’t like PFIs that doesn’t strike me as a lot for 14 large frames *with crew* and servicing.
If that includes the fuel dispensed even better.
Anyone know?
It’s suppose to include fuel as well, I agree it doesn’t seem that much given the overall budget size.
It’s not with crew the RAF supply the crew.. it’s complicated but remember the RAF are only paying for 9 active aircraft the other 5 are off doing civilian work on contract. So the 9 in raf service are crewed by the RAF and the civilian tasked aircraft are crewed by civilian crews paid by the PFI.
Essentially it’s 9 operational aircraft without crews and an optional 5 with civilian reservist crews.
Profits from the 5 go to the PFI consortium.
The total PFI contract is essentially 14 billion pounds for 9 operational aircraft without crews + an optional 5 aircraft at charter cost with reservist crews.
Obviously the main cost is the airframes however the treasury would prefer not to pay large amounts of capital upfront but about £1,000,000 per day in the long term which is obviously far more expensive but that is PFI for you. Pre banking crisis and pre covid borrowing money from the bank of England and paying it back over the next 10-15 years would have meant we were just paying for fuel and maintenacce by now and we had repurposed the loan to provide 15-20 E-7 or something. Short term thinking never provides the best results.
It’s interesting that 11 of the 14 are now in RAF service, that’s up from the previous 9.
Either operation tempo has increased – probably true so more are needed at rapid call.
Coupled with that how attractive are they for commercial use as they are reasonably thirsty beasts?
Are two still U/S?
That is interesting as the unit cost of an A333 air to air refuelling tanker was 113 million pounds ( that’s how much other customers paid for outright purchases). Apparently the Uk paid around £152 million each for the purchase as part of the contract.
Ah, does the PFI include the capital purchase? I assumed it did?
If it does £1.89Bn is just buying the planes….im assuming a sensible rate is applied to that of say 4 or 5% then that is half the PFI cost before doing anything else.
So that leaves £3Bn to operate them over 17 years?
£15m per plane per year all in…..including profits. Sure offset by commercial use.
I have always been against this PFI stuff with military assets.
Just Gordon Brown again, trying to shove costs down the road rather than paying up.
Johnson Beharry VC rightly turned his back in him.
No different from any since.
On the costs, it it includes fuel and maintainence then not an issue if it is comparable with outright purchase?
It’s just that I believe the military should own its own assets.
Theoretically, there’s no need for the MOD to own assets. Delivery firms rent their vans, because their job is to deliver parcels not own vehicles. The MOD’s job is to win wars, not own the means to do so.
The problem for them is that they never know which/how many/where military assets will be needed at any given moment. In an ideal world, they’d own a few for training purposes and rent the rest when required. It’s cheaper. But that’s not practical for war machines so they have to own them ‘just in case’. Assets like fuel tankers and vehicle carrying ships they can rent when needed because the owners can put them to other uses when not needed by the MOD.
But I know what you mean!
#Day35
Yet another brilliant U.K.agreement. What is wrong with us? The RAF are surely capable of managing their own aircraft.
There are a number of aircraft in RAF service (C-17, P-8 and [in due course] F-35A, etc) which use ‘boom’ refueling; does the PFI allow for the Voyager aircraft to retrofitted?