Brasil Vida is reaping the rewards of preparing early for the onset of COVID-19. The Brazilian operator was the first in the country to be authorised to fly. “We anticipated this global pandemic in January 2020, and we decided as a company to prepare for such air ambulance transportations,” says international director James DeSouza. “We bought a capsule, PPE, disinfectants for the cleaning of our aircraft, disinfectants for our flight crew and medical equipment. We were featured on TV for our capabilities and became internationally recognised for being able to carry out COVID-19 medical transports.

“Our first challenge was with the guests and crew members on cruise ships that needed to be repatriated from many parts of South America back to their home countries, like North America, Europe and beyond. These transports were very complex and continue to be very so, due to the nature of the virus and the diplomatic requirements of each country of entry and exit. Later came the challenges of COVID-19 hot spots in Brazil and the need to use our services to transport the patients to more adequate medical facilities. Today, we still deal on a daily basis with the challenges of pandemic transport requirements in Brazil and internationally.”

DeSouza adds that the Brazilian Ministry of Health in Brazil was not so well prepared for the pandemic: “The agency that handles our operations here in Brazil is ANVISA (Agencia Nacional de Vigilancia Sanitaria/National Sanitary Vigilance Agency), which we have a very close relationship with. We advised ANVISA of our operational requirements for COVID-19 and they reviewed all of our procedures and used it as a benchmark for other air ambulance operators here in Brazil that would decide to proceed with handling COVID-19 missions. At the beginning ANVISA and Brasil Vida worked very closely to understand what was required to safely transport COVID-19 patients with Brasil Vida being an example company for this type of medical transport.”

By April the operator had already implemented the required rules for COVID-19 in the workplace, including temperature checks and testing for all staff. All aircraft in Brasil Vida's fleet are company-owned; it does not have any managed aircraft, and has been in the business for 16 years. Its fleet comprises three Learjet 31As, one Learjet 35A, one Westwind II, one Westwind I, a King Air 200, two Cheyenne IIs, two Cheyenne IIs and one Cheyenne I. It is in the process of adding another Westwind II, a King Air B200, a King Air C90B and another Cheyenne III, some of which should be on-line in the next three months.

DeSouza continues: “The most common missions we fly are domestically here in Brazil for the government contracts that we have; patients that are located in the rural areas of a state are transported to the capital of the state. If the capital of a state is unable to provide the medical care, the patient is most likely transferred to another capital or to Sao Paulo. Sao Paulo has all of the required capabilities for government medical care for Brazilian citizens. Sao Paulo has the best internationally recognised hospitals in Brazil and South America.

“Our business has increased by 30 per cent from the same year last year due to the COVID-19, as Brazil has had a few hot spots.”