Air ambulance business spreads its wings across Europe
A COVENTRY air ambulance operation is looking to expand its services across Europe.
Capital Air Ambulance is the aeromedical arm of the Rigby Group’s aviation division.
In recent months, Capital said it had taken advantage of marketplace changes to establish itself as Britain’s largest Air Ambulance operator.
It has just opened a second UK base at Coventry Airport, where it is basing an enlarged fleet and crew. It is looking to expand by offering long haul medical repatriation flights across Europe, the Middle East and North America.
Sir Peter Rigby, founder and chairman of Rigby Group, said: “Capital Air Ambulance has grown rapidly since joining the group just two years ago, and is now poised to begin competing on a level platform with some of our largest European competitors.
“We have invested in both new aircraft and highly trained crews, and have opened a second UK base at Coventry Airport to extend our services across a much wider geographic area.
“We are now extremely well positioned to make a significant impact upon the European aeromedical sector over the coming months and years.”
Capital provides rapid response medical assistance services and repatriation flights 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, employing a highly experienced, multilingual team to deliver medical support and translation services on scheduled commercial and charter flights or via road transport.
It has a 25-year track record in repatriating British citizens when they have been injured or fallen ill in a foreign country. It is also the only Eurami (European Aeromedical Institute) accredited UK medical assistance company to operate its own fleet of air ambulances.
The aircraft fleet consists of ten fixed wing aircraft and two aeromedical helicopters.
Paul Southall, who heads up Rigby’s Aviation division, said that in the two years since Capital joined Rigby Group, the company had exceeded all expectations, growing in an extremely competitive and challenging market.
“Today, with months of investment and operational enhancements firmly in place, we see a huge window of opportunity for a British owned aeromedical operator to seriously challenge its established European competitors and intend to make significant strides in this area over the coming months,” he said.
