Covid-19 transports drove a record mission tempo at Swiss air ambulance provider Rega last year. The operator organized 18,017 missions for the year, an increase of 10.7 percent, and transported an average of 34 patients per day and a total of 12,284 for the year—an increase of 10.3 percent. Rega operates a mixed fleet of 19 Airbus and Leonardo helicopters and three Bombardier Challenger 650s from its 13 bases and one partner base. Although Rega's missions are primarily patient transport, the aircraft fleet is also used for search and other non-patient missions.
This past year, Rega aircraft transported 702 Covid patients—471 by helicopter and the remainder by jet. Helicopter Covid patient transports increased by 49.1 percent versus 2020. Rega's operations center also coordinated the distribution of Covid patients among hospital intensive care units and handled patient transfer and repatriation requests for intensive care patients living in Switzerland. Hospital transfer flights increased by 9.2 percent, to 2,854, and on-site rescue missions increased by 8.6 percent, to 8,444, resulting in an overall helicopter flight hour increase of 8.1 percent for the year.
Rega was founded in 1952 and is a privately-run, non-profit organization that provides air ambulance service regardless of a patient’s ability to pay. The company employs more than 400 individuals and is majority supported by the voluntary contributions of more than 3.6 million patrons.