The UK's Capital Air Ambulance has become the first customer for Consort Aviation at Durham Tees Valley airport. Consort provided handling services for one of Capital's medevac missions.

“Air ambulance handling requirements are very different to VIP handling,” comments Capital MD and chief pilot Malcolm Humphries. “We usually have a stretcher patient on board and we may require assistance during the loading or unloading of our patient. The handling staff are going to have to work closely with our crew members if they are assisting, so they understand exactly what help is needed.”

Last year Capital added a Learjet 45 to its fleet and gained a worldwide AOC. During the last couple of months, it has added a second of the type, and the LR45s are working hard with regular flights across Europe and the Middle East.

The company is also partnering with US and Far Eastern air ambulance companies for wing-to-wing patient transfers, a task that the Learjets are managing well. “Last month we departed Italy with a patient whose destination was Tasmania,” Humphries explains. “We changed crew in Sharjah, carried on to Bangkok and then transferred her from our LR45 to a waiting LR35 that had earlier positioned from Australia. This aircraft then took her all the way to Tasmania.”