Rex subsidiary Pel-Air Aviation has commenced operations for the New South Wales (NSW) Ambulance Air Ambulance fixed-wing service with a fleet of new aircraft. The five new aeromedical Beechcraft King Air 350 aircraft were delivered between December 2020 and June 2021. They then underwent modifications in New South Wales with Pel-Air’s subcontractor, Total Aerospace Solutions, to meet the requirements of NSW Ambulance.
The aircraft, described by the NSW state government as akin to a “hospital in the sky”, have all been prepared for the 24/7 critical care and complex mission requirements of NSW Ambulance across multiple areas. These include standard patient transfers, Newborn and Paediatric Emergency Transport Service operations, Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation operations, Intra-Aortic Balloon Pump operations, Bariatric patient operations, over-water aeromedical transfers and major incident responses.
Pel-Air Chairman John Sharp said, “We are honoured by the confidence that NSW Ambulance has placed in Pel-Air to be able to successfully carry out the procurement and modifications of these new aircraft and to run its aeromedical retrieval operations for the next ten years. Despite the challenges presented by the COVID pandemic leading to a delay in the delivery of the planes to Australia, the aeromedical modifications were completed on time.”
Pel-Air is one of Australia’s most trusted fixed-wing air ambulance providers, having already been the incumbent contractor for the Victorian State government for the past 10 years. Rex is Australia’s largest independent regional and domestic airline operating a fleet of 60 Saab 340 and 6 Boeing 737-800 NG aircraft to 63 destinations throughout all states in Australia. In addition to the airline Rex, the Rex Group comprises wholly owned subsidiaries Pel-Air Aviation (air freight, aeromedical and charter operator) and the two pilot academies, Australian Airline Pilot Academy in Wagga Wagga and Ballarat.
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