By Chris Thomson | posted on October 5, 2018
THE RAC has revealed it will again throw its hat in the ring to sponsor Western Australia’s two rescue helicopters, with a two-to-five year sponsorship deal for the choppers now up for grabs.
The Weekender recently learned the Department of Fire and Emergency Services, which operates the service, was set to advertise the sponsorship package (‘Sponsor up in the air’, 13 September).
That happened late last week, and RAC’s Executive General Manager Advocacy and Members Patrick Walker says he looks forward “to continuing our partnership with the State Government and the rescue helicopters”.
But continuation of the RAC deal is by no means guaranteed, with DFES calling for tenders from any organisation wishing to pay an annual fee, and chip in an additional $150,000 a year to fund a media campaign to promote the helicopters.
In New South Wales, Victoria, and Tasmania, the Westpac bank sponsors those states’ helicopter rescue services.
DFES wants a sponsor to slap their livery on the fuselages of the ‘copters for two years from July 1 next year.
Thereafter, three one-year extensions will be available at DFES’ discretion.
RAC has sponsored the WA service since its inception in 2003, and was last selected as naming rights sponsor in mid-2014.
The choppers, based in Bunbury and Perth, serve more than 90 per cent of the state’s population.
Beneficiaries of the service include Hamish Bolto, then 10, who was rescued in 2015 after his trachea was severed in a motorbike accident on his family’s Katanning farm.
Applications for the sponsorship close on November 9.
