In October, Australia's Toll Ambulance Rescue Helicopter Service fleet of eight AW139 helicopters reached the significant aviation milestone of 40,000 flight hours and a service milestone of over 24,000 critical care missions. The Toll Aviation-operated NSW Ambulance aeromedical rescue helicopter service commenced operations in January 2017.

Together, Toll and NSW Ambulance provide full-service EMS, SAR capability and an interhospital-transport service, as well as partnering with the Newborn and Paediatric Emergency Transport Service (NETS) to deliver a newborn and paediatric emergency transport service. Operating from four bases in Sydney, Orange, Wollongong and Canberra, the 24/7/365 service is tasked to canyons, crevasses, roadways, rivers, oceans, frozen lakes, cliffs and cruise ships. The environment in which the aeromedical operations work is both challenging and diverse, comprising everything from over the horizon search and rescue operations off the NSW Coast to 250 winch operations in mountainous regions, with no two rescues looking the same.

Earlier this year, the service won the international 2025 Vertical Aviation International (VAI) Salute to Excellence Golden Hour Award for contributions to air medical transport.

“This is a great milestone for NSW Ambulance and Toll, which together deliver a world-class aeromedical service for patients across NSW, undertaking complex missions in some of the state's most difficult to access areas and harshest terrains,” NSW Ambulance chief executive Dr Dominic Morgan says. “This partnership enables NSW Ambulance's highly qualified doctors, critical care paramedics and flight nurses to train and work alongside Toll's pilots and aircrew officers to deliver exceptional out-of-hospital care to critically unwell and injured patients.”

Scott Watkins, senior vice president Toll Aviation adds: “This aviation and service milestone gives pause to reflect on the incredible work that the team undertakes every day to ensure the service is available for the communities of NSW and ACT and testament to the strength of the partnership between NSW Ambulance, ACT Ambulance and Newborn and Paediatric Emergency Transport service (NETS) and Leonardo Helicopters.”

Stefano Villanti, Leonardo Helicopters SVP sales, marketing and contracts, states: “The AW139 is a highly successful helicopter model used globally for various roles, including emergency medical services (EMS), search and rescue, law enforcement and energy support. Its advanced technology, high performance, safety features and the ability for rapid reconfiguration to meet the operational requirements have played a major part in meeting operators' requirements and allowing them to successfully accomplish the mission. We congratulate Toll and NSW Ambulance for achieving this major milestone assisting their community, and we stay committed to making sure their helicopters continue to perform at their best for life-saving missions in the future.”

These milestones are a result of the skill, the dedication and collaboration of all Toll Ambulance Rescue Service's staff to service and the support of the community.