Operating against the odds

You’ve been with European Air Ambulance (EAA) for five years. What are the biggest changes you’ve seen in the industry in that time?

I have noticed several changes in the industry. One is that after the Covid-19 pandemic stricter safety regulations have been implemented to ensure a high level of safety for both patients and medical crew.

There have also been significant changes in technology; EAA uses state-of-the-art of medical equipment, but these are becoming ever more sophisticated and there is always a need to invest in advanced life-support features.

Our engineering department is also working to improve our aircraft capabilities to offer specialised services for even more effective patient care, because we provide a complete range of services.

Staying at the forefront is essential, and medical training is an integral part of achieving that goal.

How have geopolitical changes influenced the way you work, if at all, and how do these challenges influence air medical transport as a whole?

We are currently experiencing a tense geopolitical situation affecting various aspects of the preparation of the operations. As a first step, our security officer, located in our Operations Control Center, monitors the geopolitical developments daily and modifies our internal company risk assessment whenever required. This is to reduce the impact on our operations and to continue to provide medical transport services in a changing and challenging landscape.

The main adaptation to airspace restrictions is strategic route planning and the adaptability of flight planning. Additional authorisations are sometimes required, such as diplomatic clearances, visa requirements etc. To ensure that our operations run smoothly, we anticipate our requests as far as possible and look for alternatives if necessary to ensure that patients can be transported without unexpected delays.

What new technology is EAA embracing to change the way your operations work?

This question comes at just the right time. Our Operations Control Center is currently undergoing digitalisation at all levels, including software, hardware, and middleware. Even the ergonomic environment is being modified to improve dispatchers' wellbeing. This will allow us to optimise our operations and to use all the potential of our air ambulance fleet.

To enhance operational efficiency, a second Challenger 605 will join our fleet and will be operational in a few months. It will be equipped with all advanced medical capabilities, like the first one, which has already been operating for over two years. The Luxembourg Air Rescue Group, including EAA, always faces new challenges and projects which improve our services.

We are currently exploring the utilisation of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), with a pilot project set to commence this summer. The next step will be to optimise resource allocation, workflows, and enhance decisionmaking processes with the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) for example. 

We were so sorry to hear about the recent fire at your headquarters. Thankfully, we know nobody was hurt, but did the incident affect your operations and were any of your aircraft fleet damaged?

Following the fire, the most important aspect was indeed that nobody was injured.

Luckily none of our Airbus H145 or MD902 air rescue helicopters, nor our Learjet 45XR and Challenger 605 air ambulance aircraft, were affected. The damage was purely to the medical equipment but has not interrupted our operations.

We have successfully completed several air ambulance missions for our valued customers since the incident – even on the same day as the fire our air rescue helicopters and air ambulance aircraft departed without delays. This speedy recovery was made possible by the dedication of all our team members, whose efforts were essential to enable us to resume operations. Their commitment and team spirit during this period was remarkable.

We were also deeply touched by the support of our members, our corporate partners, and the entire air ambulance community, whose moral contributions were invaluable. We would like to reassure all our clients that our operations are running as usual and that we are committed to providing the exceptional service they have come to rely on.