Madeira's Second Firefighting Helicopter Goes on Duty Thursday for Two Months, Hired by the Air Force Without a Tender
A direct award under the Public Contracts Code's urgency clause buys one light helicopter from 1 October to 30 November for up to 407,799.82 euros plus VAT. Its start was first planned for the summer of 2025.
Madeira gets a second firefighting helicopter on Thursday, more than a year later than first planned, and it will stay for exactly two months. The Air Force hired it without a tender, under the urgency clause of the Public Contracts Code, for up to 407,799.82 euros plus VAT, according to the contract published on the public procurement portal.
The aircraft was presented on Sunday at the Serviço Regional de Proteção Civil (Regional Civil Protection Service, SRPC). It is paid for by the state, Lusa reports, and its start was originally planned for the summer of 2025 before being put back again and again.
What the contract buys
The Estado-Maior da Força Aérea (Air Force General Staff) signed the contract with Helibravo Aviação on 21 September. It covers one light helicopter, with crew, fuel and maintenance, from 1 October to 30 November 2026. The price has two parts:
- standby: 3,442.62 euros a day for 61 days, or 209,999.82 euros;
- flying: up to 172 flight hours at 1,150 euros an hour, or 197,800 euros, with the hourly rate revised monthly if jet fuel moves away from the 1.05 euros a litre in Helibravo's bid.
Only hours actually flown are paid. The helicopter works an operational day from sunrise to sunset, capped at 12 hours. Its main base is at Cancela, with Madeira International Airport as the alternative.
The legal basis for skipping a tender is Article 24(1)(c) of the Código dos Contratos Públicos (Public Contracts Code). It allows a direct award only as far as strictly necessary, for reasons of pressing urgency caused by events the contracting body could not foresee and did not cause, when the deadlines of other procedures cannot be met. The published record gives no reason beyond citing that clause.
First on the scene
The helicopter carries a team of five firefighters and a pilot. It has 90 minutes of flying time and a 750 litre bucket slung beneath it. SRPC president Richard Marques said the aim is to have it fighting a fire within 20 minutes of the alert.
It will attack small fires on its own when they can be put out within those 90 minutes. For larger fires it will back up the medium helicopter that Madeira has kept on permanent standby since 2018, which carries more water and is also used for rescues.
Why October and November? Micaela Freitas, the regional secretary responsible for civil protection, said Madeira has had large fires outside the summer, in those two months in particular. The photo above was taken at a November fire: a helicopter dropping water on a hillside at Ajuda, in Funchal, on 10 November 2019.
The mainland is heading the other way this week. The IPMA outlook brings rain and a cold front from Monday, after a last hot Saturday in the Algarve and Madeira. To report a fire anywhere in Portugal, call 112; our guide to emergency numbers in Portugal lists the rest.
Sources: the contract between the Air Force and Helibravo Aviação (direct award 5026013189, signed 21 September 2026), published on the base.gov.pt public procurement portal (Portuguese only); Article 24 of the Public Contracts Code; Lusa.
Feature image: a firefighting helicopter drops water on a wildfire at Ajuda, Funchal, on 10 November 2019. Photo by Nuno Caldeira (CC BY-SA 4.0), via Wikimedia Commons.
