New Beechcraft King Air 360CHW air ambulance. @Carson Air
BRITISH COLUMBIA – BC Emergency Health Services (BCEHS), which has Kelowna-based Carson Air as its major air ambulance provider, is replacing its existing fleet with $673 million over 10 years from the provincial government to purchase 12 new Beechcraft King Air 360CHW air ambulances.
Nine of the airplanes will be in regular operation and three will be backups. The first of these new airplanes went into service on May 1. Carson Air is the largest provider of Air Ambulance Services in BC, and they move air freight daily between BC and Alberta; as well as provide pilot training through Southern Interior Flight Centre in association with Okanagan College. They also have a long-standing contract with FedEx.
Air ambulances allow patients to be treated by highly trained paramedics while they are being transported. The airplanes are the fastest way to travel to a health-care facility, especially for patients in hard-to-reach areas, and they are used both in emergency medical response and to transfer patients between health-care facilities.
The new aircrafts have several features that will benefit patients across the province, including: the ability to land on gravel runways; expanded capabilities for specialized care; improved patient and paramedic safety through power stretcher compatibility; and uniform layout and design that will improve patient outcomes and expanded flight crews.
Air ambulances will remain stationed in their current locations with three airplanes each in Vancouver and Kelowna, two in Prince George and one in Fort St. John.
In 2023-24, paramedics, dispatchers and call takers responded to 596,014 emergency medical events and completed 71,198 interfacility patient transfers throughout the province, including 8,290 patient transports involving air resources, 6,177 of which were by airplane. Approximately 70% of calls for air ambulances use airplanes and 30% use helicopters.
Carson Air has more than 30 years of experience and recently became a subsidiary of the Exchange Income Corporation (EIC). In June 2023, the company was awarded a contract by BCEHS to be the sole provider of Fixed-Wing Air Ambulance services in British Columbia for the next decade.
Business Examiner Staff