Babcock Scandinavian AirAmbulance

Description

Babcock Scandinavian AirAmbulance is the leading EMS helicopter operator in Sweden. AirAmbulance is the helicopter branch of Babcock Scandinavia, a subsidiary to Babcock International Group, and the sister company to Babcock SAA FW AB is involved in fixed-wing intensive care transports throughout large parts of Scandinavia.

Scandinavian AirAmbulance has seven HEMS bases in Sweden; Gällivare, Lycksele, Östersund, Uppsala, Stockholm, Visby and Gothenburg, as well as four bases in Finland; Oulu, Rovaniemi, Kuopio and Mariehamn. The company has a fleet of AW169, H145 and AS365N3 helicopters.

History

Babcock Scandinavian AirAmbulance (SAA), formerly known as Scandinavian MediCopter (SMC), is a joint heritage of the HEMS operators Lufttransport Svenska and SOS Helikoptern Gotland, both purchased byFly Partners i Luleå AB in 2007.

Both companies were acquired by the Swedish company Fly Partners i Luleå AB in 2007. The new organization got the name Scandinavian MediCopter in 2008, and became a subsidiary to Scandinavian AirAmbulance (SAA).

In May of 2009 the main office of SMC including the maintenance moved to new facilities at Åre-Östersund Airport (Frösön) just outside Östersund. The EMS helicopter remained at the Göviken Heliport in downtown Östersund.

In 2010 MediCopter was awarded the EMS contract in Norrbotten. It placed a Dauphin helicopter in Gällivare in December the same year. The contract was valid for 18 months, expiring in May 2012, but it was soon renewed and replaced by a contract valid for 10 years.

Scandinavian MediCopter took the step into Finland in late-2010 by taking over the EMS helicopter activity in Oulu on December 13 2010. The company took over the EMS helicopter in Varkus on February 1st 2011. By now the company had 11 helicopters in service at 8 bases throughout Sweden and Finland.

In November 2011 the company was awarded a contract from FinnHEMS, concerning three bases in Finland, valid for 10 years. In addition to the current two bases, this contract means a third new base for MediCopter located in the region of Lapland.

In June 2012 MediCopter was awarded a new EMS contract on the island of Gotland. The agreement was sealed in September following the end of an appeal process. The new contract with "Region Gotland" was to be valid for 5+2 years, starting from 1 April 2014 with a brand new Bell 429.

In September the same year MediCopter was awarded yet another contract renewal, this time in Jämtland County. The new contract will be valid for 5+2+2 years, starting from 1 January 2013.

On 1 January 2014 SMC opened its 10th HEMS base by starting a H24 service for Region Sjælland and Region Hovedstaden in Ringsted, southwest of Copenhagen. The January-October interim contract employed a single-pilot EC145. The activity was closed in October 2014.

In March 2014 Scandinavian AirAmbulance announced its intention to join the Avincis Group, an international aviation service provider. SAA's operations were to be administered parallel to Avincis’ existing companies, which delivered medical emergency, SAR, firefighting and energy support services across eight countries worldwide, with a fleet of 343 aircraft. Avincis was acquired by Babcock International Group at the same time, and Avincis was subsequently re-branded under the Babcock name in January 2015

In April 2014 SMC's new Bell 429 entered service in Visby. It was soon replaced by an EC 145 due to performance concerns.

In October 2014 SMC took delivery of its very first Airbus EC145 T2 out of three ordered. The new T2s were engaged in the EMS activities in Finland.

In September 2015 SMC was awarded a contract with Region Jämtland-Härjedalen for the continued operation of the EMS helicopter in Östersund, Sweden. The contract, which is valid to 2021, called for the replacement of the current AS 365 N2 with a brand new AgustaWestland AW169 from early 2017.

In April 2016 Stockholm's County Council announced that it had awarded SMC the new contract for airborne emergency medical services in the Stockholm region, valid between 2017 to 2022, with an option for two additional years. The new contract called for a larger helicopter than the current EC135, and it stipulated a possibility to use a second helicopter for daytime operations all year if needed.

The Stockholm contract was later cancelled through an appeal, and a new public tender was to be offered in time.

On 30 November 2016 Scandinavian MediCopter changed its named to Babcock Scandinavian AirAmbulance (SAA) as part of a global branding synchronization with the owner Babcock International Group. The new profile included a new logotype, but the operation and the structure of the company remained the same.

In March 2017 Stockholm County Council announced that Babcock Scandinavian AirAmbulance had won the tender for new EMS helicopters in Stockholm, after years of appealed tenders. The contract, which is valid for five years, with an option for a two-year extension, calls for brand new Airbus H145 helicopters to replace the current EC135s.

In April 2017 SAA took delivery of Scandinavia's first Leonardo AW169 helicopter - SE-JSG. The helicopter was the first in a batch of four AW169s ordered by the company. It was followed by a second aircraft in May.

In September 2017 Babcock moved its base in Gustavsberg to a temporary location at the Norrtälje-Mellingeholm Airfield due to safety concerns at the Gustavsberg heliport.

In December 2017 BSAA won the new HEMS contract with the Västra Götaland Region, which stipulated an AW169 to be used in the region in order to replace the ageing Sikorsky S-76.

Babcock launched its new AW169s throughout the first six months of 2018: Östersund (SE-JRA) on January 13, Gällivare (SE-JSG) on March 21, Lycksele (SE-JSH) on March 27 and Gothenburg (SE-JSJ) on the 1:st of June. Parallel to this, Babcock launched two new Airbus H145 (SE-JSP & SE-JSR) in Stockholm. In all, two EC135s (SE-JFN & SE-JIE) and three AS365s (SE-JIB, SE-JIC & SE-JRB) were retired during this period.

In June 2018 Babcock won the new HEMS contract for a Airbus H145 in Mariehamn for Ålands Hälso- och Sjukvård. The operation was launched on the 1:st of February 2019 with the H145 SE-JSS.