DRF Luftrettung leaves EAA
German air rescue provider DRF Luftrettung has decided to cease carrying out fixed-wing flights for third-party clients including travel insurers.
German air rescue provider DRF Luftrettung has decided to cease carrying out fixed-wing flights for third-party clients including travel insurers. Going forward, the company will concentrate on its own members, served through helicopter rescue operations as well as fixed-wing repatriation flights. In line with this move, the firm has pulled out of European Air Ambulance (EAA), which was established through a partnership with Luxembourg Air Ambulance (LAA). DRF Luftrettung has also sold one medically-configured Learjet 45 plane to LAA, which already houses the EAA control centre and will continue to operate under the European Air Ambulance brand.
Petra Hentschel, press officer at DRF Luftrettung, told Waypoint: “We have decided to conduct worldwide ambulance flights only for our sponsoring members as of 2015. Our alert centre at the airport of Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden co-ordinates these worldwide missions. Our decision does not affect our helicopter rescue operations at our 30 HEMS bases in Germany and Austria.”
Approximately 700 emergency physicians, 300 paramedics, 160 pilots, and 80 engineers are on duty for DRF Luftrettung. More than 38,000 rescue missions are flown each year.