Page 19 - World Airnews Magazine May 2020 Edition

HELICOPTER FUEL

SWISS AIR-RESCUE FLY 74 LOWER JET FUEL PRICE

COVID-19 PATIENTS DOESN’T MEAN WIN-WIN

fundamental principles of the Red Cross, total of 74 Covid-19 patients. Most of these

their services geared to the needs of the operations were secondary transports; SITUATION FOR AIRLINES

ince the beginning of the Coro- Swiss population and financed by private patients are transferred from one hospital

Sna pandemic, Swiss Air-Rescue, funding, with donations received from to another.
more than three million Swiss “patrons”

re-named “Rega,” helicopter crews have (donations received from the populous). Although the transport of highly infec- a win-win situation for airlines. When we our demand with the supply, we have started

flying two B747Fs three flights a week from

flown a total of 74 Covid-19 patients, most This enables them to operate inde- tious patients is part of Rega’s normal are benefitting from low fuel prices, we are Nairobi into our Liege hub. We are operating

equally losing out markets with high load fac-
via interfacility transfer. pendently in the service of their patients. range of applications, the crews had he pandemic and the oil-price tors. Once we used to fly 300 tonnes a week our aircraft for 14 hours a day. We would like

For example Rega has also supported The emergency missions and other opera- specifically prepared with extra training in Tshock are likely to ti p Africa into an to Nigeria, which has now been reduced to to optimise 747s by carrying 100-110 tonnes

nearby countries such 19 French Covid tions are carried out on behalf of the gen- February in anticipation of an increase in economic contraction in 2020, in the ab- less than 80 tonnes. It is having a negative of vegetables with other cargoes so that the

patients who were flown from Alsace to eral public are not conditional on whether patient call volume. sence of a major fiscal stimulus. The Covid- effect on the air freight market. We are doing capacity utilisation is done.”

German hospitals. the ensuing costs will be covered. SPECIAL INTENSIVE CARE 19’s economic impact finds that Africa's double and triple drops to optimise our oper- Kenya has witnessed a reduction in

Swiss Air-Rescue (Rega) is a unique Rega has experienced significantly lower TRANSPORTS WITH MOBILE gross domestic product (GDP) growth this ations now. Overall, a lot of African countries capacity from 5,000 tonnes to 1,300 tonnes

non-profit organisation. It operates from helicopter deployment stake since the VENTILATOR year could be cut by three to eight percent- will become weak in terms of GDP.” since the national carrier along with other

12 strategically-located bases that enable start of the pandemic, which is due to the age points, McKinsey report states. In the first week of April, the International carriers ceased to fly.

Rega crews to reach any location in Swit- changed leisure behaviour of the Swiss About two-thirds of these secondary Along the similar lines, at the recently con- Air Transport Association (IATA) strength- Meanwhile, Astral which has received

zerland, except for the canton of Valais, population. transports were intensive care special cluded webinar by Logistics Update Africa on ened its call for urgent action from govern- approvals from the Kenya Civil Aviation

within 15 minutes by air. transports of artificially ventilated Covid-19 ‘Delivering cargo in the times of continental ments in Africa to provide financial relief Authority (KCAA) is planning to deploy

Rega rescue helicopters are most fre- ESCALATING COVID FLIGHTS patients. contagion: From essential supplies to critical to airlines as the potential revenue loss by its Flyox drone (capacity of up to 2,000

quently dispatched for medical emergen- The first transport for a patient suffering During the transfer the patients are medicines’, Astral Aviation CEO Sanjeev carriers reached (US) $4 billion. This trans- kilogrammes) to deliver personal protec-

cies, to deal with winter sports, as well as from Covid-19 on board a Rega helicopter connected at the ICU bedside area to Gadhia said, “We have seen the lowest fuel lates into a drop of industry revenues of 32 tive equipment (PPEs) to Uganda, Rwanda,

road, occupational and alpine accidents. took place on March 11, in Ticino. The Rega’s mobile ventilator, which ensures prices in the last 25 years and looking forward percent for 2020 as compared to 2019. South Sudan, and Congo soon.

Transfer flights from one hospital to patient was flown by the crew of Rega Base uninterrupted oxygen supply for the entire to having a better financial performance.” Commenting on supply and demand mis- "We have factories manufacturing face

another are also an integral part of Rega’s Locarno from Mendrisio to Locarno. transport period. “At the same time, disadvantages are for match and higher freight rates, Gadhia stated, masks in Kenya and by the end of April, we

services. Almost 25% of all Rega helicopter The number of operations related to the All Rega helicopters are equipped with economies like Nigeria, Angola, and Cam- “There is a lot of demand out of Nairobi to don’t need to import from other countries.

missions take place at night - a challenging corona virus increased significantly after state-of-the-art mobile ventilators that eroon which are dependent on fuel prices. Europe, especially vegetables. But the supply Even we can send it across our regional

task for their highly-trained crews. that first flight: Between March 11 and Sat- meet the latest standards and are specially Lower jet fuel price doesn’t mean that it is inbound into Africa is very weak. To match economies," he noted. Q

Rega’s rescue activities are based on the urday, April 11, the helicopter crews flew a certified for use in rescue helicopters. Q

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apan’s largest Super Puma opera-
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15, comprising two AS332s and 13 H225s.

The new helicopters will be utilised

for territorial coastal activities, security

enforcement, as well as disaster relief
missions in Japan.
“We thank the Japan Coast Guard for
its continued confidence in the H225,”

said Guillaume Leprince managing direc-
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deployed in Japan through the years. We Airbus manages its assets. from the Super Puma family are currently

have delivered three new H225 to JCG in The 11-ton-category, twin-engine flown by civil, parapublic operators, and
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