In 2021, not-for-profit aeromedical service Swiss Air-Rescue Rega came to the assistance of more than 12,000 people for the first time. Its helicopters were in the air particularly frequently, but its three ambulance jets also recorded more missions than in the previous year. Besides its regular operational activities, the company continued to assist the Swiss authorities in handling the coronavirus pandemic and was particularly pleased at the trust shown by the Swiss population; at the end of the year it could count on the support of 3,678,000 patrons, a net increase of 53,000 persons compared to the year before.

The Rega operations centre organised a total of 18,017 missions, which is on average 50 missions every 24 hours and 10.7 per cent more than the previous year. Crews transported on average 34 patients per day.

Particularly in demand were the helicopter crews stationed at the 13 countrywide Rega bases and one partner base. Rega's national operations centre organised 14,330 missions, which meant that the rescue helicopters were in the air 8.1 per cent more than the year before. There were also more rescue missions at the incident site (8,444 for the year, up 8.6 per cent on the previous year) and more transfer flights from one hospital to another (2,854 for the year, up 9.2 per cent on 2020). Generally speaking, the missions performed by Rega's Airbus H145 and AgustaWestland Da Vinci helicopters are subject to natural fluctuations. The figures for 2021 reflect, among other things, the good weather in the autumn as well as the leisure activities of the Swiss population.

Rega comes to the aid of people in distress not only in Switzerland, but also all over the world. It arranges for patients who have become seriously ill or injured abroad to be flown back home to Switzerland on board one of its three Challenger 650 ambulance jets or on a scheduled aircraft, accompanied by a member of its medical staff. In 2021, the Rega crews repatriated 970 patients; 858 by ambulance jet (up 32.6 per cent on 2020) and 112 on board a scheduled aircraft (up 0.9 per cent on 2020). This growth in the number of repatriations is attributable to increased travel activity on the part the Swiss people compared to the first year of the pandemic, when international travel dropped significantly.

It would be impossible to provide a cost-effective, professional air rescue service around the clock, 365 days a year, with highly qualified staff, state-of-the-art rescue equipment and a dense network of helicopter bases without the more than 3.6 million patrons who contribute financially. They make up around 60 per cent of all donations. The company welcomed more than 53,000 new patrons by the end of 2021, equivalent to a net increase of 1.4 per cent or approximately the population of the city of Biel.

In 2021, Rega transported a total of 702 patients infected with Covid-19 (an increase of 53.9 per cent on 2020), 471 (up 49.1 per cent) of them by rescue helicopter and 231 (up 65 per cent) on board an ambulance jet. In addition, as in the previous year, Rega's operations centre continued to support the Swiss hospitals as a national COVID coordination centre by organising the distribution of patients among the intensive care units. Moreover, in autumn 2021, Rega assumed the role of coordination centre for repatriations and was tasked with coordinating the transfer requests by assistance companies for intensive care patients living in Switzerland.