PAL Aerospace awarded new contract for Nova Scotia

The Canadian province of Nova Scotia has awarded a contract to PAL Aerospace for the continued provision of fixed-wing air ambulance services for up to ten more years.

This includes a seven-year minimum term which will run until 2029, as well as an optional three-year extension which would run until 2032.

PAL Aerospace has been providing air ambulance services to the province, in partnership with EHS LifeFlight, since 2000.
PAL Aerospace said that its partnership with EHS LifeFlight ‘has been integral to the achievement of accreditation at the highest level for fixed-wing air ambulance services from the Global Commission on Accreditation of Medical Transport Systems’.

The new contract could extend the two organizations’ partnership for another decade

In a statement, PAL Aerospace explained that it and EHS LifeFlight had also invested ‘significant engineering resources in the development of integrated patient handling systems’ and ‘developed specialized neonatal and bariatric patient handling and care services’, as well as establishing a shared facility for fixed-wing, rotary, and ground ambulance crews at Halifax International Airport.

In response, Colin Flynn, Senior Manager of EHS LifeFlight, said: “We are pleased that this highly successful partnership with PAL Aerospace will be continuing. PAL Aerospace play an integral role in our ability to provide the highest level of care to the people of the Maritimes.”

“Through the course of our work together, we have made extensive investments in technology training and interoperability to ensure we are offering the most consistent, reliable and safe medical transports possible,” added PAL Aerospace CEO Jake Trainor.

Nova Scotia also awarded an extension to a contract for the provision of helicopter emergency medical services until 2032 to the HNZ Group in January 2017, potentially enabling the province to renew both its fixed wing and rotor-based air ambulance contracts simultaneously in that year.