In its quest to improve user experience for its security and medical support services, MedAire is constantly rolling out new features—and this week at NBAA-BACE is no exception. These latest features add ways to customize reports using tools developed for the company’s own team of experts.
The offerings include Brief Builder, which allows flight operations teams to gather and present security information and intelligence they receive from MedAire in a format tailored to their specific needs and circumstances. MedAire made some of the changes based on engagement forums with clients and in other cases from tracking the types of information most commonly requested.
Explaining the changes, Richard Gomez, the company’s v-p of aviation solutions, told AIN they are intended to make self-service use of the security portal more productive on a 24/7 basis. “We can share whatever information they want us to share,” he explained. “We don’t want to scare people [with information not relevant to them] and our priority is to inform and equip [operators] to deal with risks.”
By filtering the security content from the live database, operators can generate their own Airspace Assessment reports. By inputting which cities, countries, and airports are of interest, they can quickly populate the reports with the most relevant content, explained senior v-p for aviation and maritime security Hany Bakr.
Each month, there are around 3,000 users of both the security portal and mobile app. According to Gomez, customers increasingly want to use mobile devices for trip planning and find it convenient to use the app’s quick access keys to filter what they need, such as entry and exit requirements or city directories.
“When they are on a trip, they need quick access to all the information so that they can see if things have changed [since the trip was planned],” he said.
MedAire’s security analysts are tracking shifting threats around the world, including rapidly destabilizing zones such as the Sahel region of Africa, where recent coups caused concern for travelers. At the same time, the company has provided guidance over new risks such as aircraft being damaged by eco-protesters.
While a self-service approach to accessing and using the security information might be gaining momentum among some MedAire customers, the company is also able to provide closer personal attention support through its concierge service. For security cover, it offers what it calls its Personal Security package, which it can tailor to a particular travel profile to provide preventative measures that include MedAire’s team monitoring the location of one or more individual travelers and experienced security officers to provide direct protection.
In some instances, the company will also provide a medical professional to travel with a group that has particular health challenges.
For dealing with inflight medical emergencies, MedAire’s proprietary Digital Assessment Kit (DAK) is a critical tool to support flight crew and their passengers. The company is demonstrating the DAK this week at its NBAA-BACE exhibit, where chief medical officer Dr. Paolo Alves is taking live calls to show how he and his team deal with situations in real-time.
HBO’s hit TV series “Succession” provided a high-profile snapshot of how the DAK can be used to determine how best to care for patients. During an episode that aired in April, media magnate Logan Roy needed emergency medical treatment on a flight from New York to Sweden. MedAire’s medical team provided the show’s producers with extensive technical guidance for the scene.
According to Alves, the key to the effectiveness of the DAK is how easy it is to use. MedAire provides full training to the flight crew, but prompts on the monitor can instruct novices on how to use it to collect vital data from a patient and relay the information to doctors on the ground.
The DAK consists of a blood pressure monitor cuff, 12-lead electrocardiogram recorder, digital glucometer, pulse oximeter, and contactless thermometer. According to MedAire, the equipment greatly improves the way medical emergencies are dealt with by allowing flight crew to transmit critical information to the company’s assistance centers immediately so that when they place calls to doctors on the ground they receive the right guidance on how best to respond to the patient’s needs.