FAI rent-a-jet AG, the German Air Ambulance Specialist and Special Mission Operator, has experienced unprecedented demand for their services in the midst of the Coronavirus pandemic. This includes both medical evacuations of infected patients and repatriation flights of unaffected healthy individuals from all corners of the globe.
The company is currently operating at maximum capacity, averaging around six missions per day with its 70 pilots and fleet of five Learjet 60s, four Bombardier Challenger 604, and one Global Express air ambulance aircraft. Additionally, FAI is supplementing its fleet with its executive charter fleet of business jets.
Following its recent purchase of two portable self-contained isolation units, EPI-Shuttle, FAI can transport infected patients without any risk for the flight or medical crew. All medevac missions are accompanied by a trained dedicated medical team, for pre-flight temperature screening, and the availability of medical/nursing care in flight as required.
“We are working hard to fulfil all requests coming in 24/7 for repatriation and medevac flights as rapidly and as efficiently as we can and will continue to do so as long as is practically possible. We deeply regret that we can’t help everybody immediately. The demand is such that we currently have a backlog of three days,” Siegfried Axtmann, chairman and founder of FAI Aviation Group, has commented.
As the issue with many other airlines, FAI is experiencing challenges in the face of the travel restrictions of many countries. This is a reoccurring challenge in the aviation industry, as TIACA has already highlighted that blanket bans may do more harm than good.
FAI is the world’s largest fixed wing air ambulance jet operator by revenue, logging far above 10,000 hours per year flying air ambulance missions. The company’s fleet is based at its headquarters at Albrecht Dürer International
Airport in Nuremberg. The air ambulance division specialises in air support in hostile areas for the world´s largest NGO. It typically averages three intercontinental medical evacuations per day for its global client base.
