Press Release

Issued by DRF Luftrettung.

July 15, 2011

In the first half of the year 2011 the air rescue organization DRF Luftrettung flew a total of 19,189 missions, involving helicopter missions at 31 HEMS bases in Germany, Austria and Denmark as well as worldwide repatriations with its ambulance aircraft. This means a rise of 1,214 (8%) compared to the same period of the previous year.

In Germany alone the red-white helicopters of DRF Luftrettung were alerted to 17,632 missions, meaning a rise of 987 (6%) compared to the same period in 2010 (16,645 missions). Outside of Germany, at two HEMS bases in Austria and one HEMS base in Denmark, DRF Luftrettung flew 1,168 helicopter missions in 2011. 14 months after its start the HEMS base of Ringsted, Denmark has been well established: In the first half year of 2011 the helicopter, operated by Falck DRF Luftambulance A/S, was alerted 355 times. Also the two Austrian rescue helicopters of the ARA- Flugrettungs GmbH (which belongs to DRF Luftrettung), were much in demand: The crews in Reutte (Tyrol) and Fresach (Carinthia) flew 813 missions altogether.

In the field of worldwide ambulance flights, DRF Luftrettung together with LAR (Luxembourg Air Rescue) conducted 389 repatriations under the name of EAA (European Air Ambulance), meaning a plus of 25 missions compared to the same period of the previous year. With their six ambulance aircraft they flew to 77 countries worldwide. These repatriation fights were coordinated by the respective alert centers at the airports of Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden (Germany) and Luxembourg. The experienced dispatchers can be reached 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, under the emergency telephone number +49-(0)711-7007-7007.