Medic’Air International has taken delivery of its first dedicated aircraft at Paris Le Bourget Airport. The air ambulance specialist began operating the King Air B200 on July 1.

“We work closely with all of the main aircraft charter companies at Le Bourget and we formed a special agreement with one of them to have our own B200, purely for medevac missions,” said ceo Dr Hervé Raffin.

The company has experience operating King Airs, as well as larger aircraft types. “Now the landscape is quite different, we needed to have our own aircraft to make transfers inside Europe and North Africa. There is a market and we have enough cases to use this dedicated aircraft.”

The King Air can be configured to carry one or two stretchers, with up to three medical attendants on board. The company has access to a pool of crew and a spare King Air for backup.

The majority of Medic’Air’s clients are medical assistance companies, though Raffin notes that increasing numbers of private individuals have recognised the benefits of medevac and air ambulance services.

Typical missions for the aircraft will be transporting patients from Spain to Belgium, from southern Italy to France and to Algeria. “It depends on the season,” he said. “During the winter we see lots of broken legs in the Alps, when it is more difficult to take stretchers on commercial aircraft. During the summer season we deal with more acute problems in southern Spain, Italy and Greece.”

Medic’Air works with Aero Services, Unijet and Belgium’s Abelag to source jet aircraft for longer range work. The company intends to form a new partnership in the future to secure a dedicated jet aircraft to join the B200.

The company also aims to secure access to a King Air 350 for three stretcher ‘broken leg’ work, and missions covering longer distances. “We do not have enough aircraft in Paris at the moment,” said Raffin.

“After the King Air we hope to get a Citation II or Learjet 55, and there is a market for the Falcon 50. Two years ago we flew 800 hours with a Falcon 50, mostly for emergency cases in West Africa. It’s comfortable, has a widebody cabin and is a safe aircraft.”

Medic’Air also offers a niche medical service for commercial carriers, flying short legs to transport patients on stretchers. A typical mission would be to collect a patient who has completed a long distance leg to Paris CDG, and fly them to a nearby hospital. The company would manage and monitor the entire trip.