EBAA ‘Ambassador’ Medaire Highlights the Value of Bizav as Sector Faces Ongoing Image Challenge

The push by the European Business Aviation Association (EBAA) to better communicate the value of business aviation took another step forward earlier this month when reps from 26 EBAA member companies that have become sector ‘ambassadors’ gathered at the London Assistance Centre of Medaire, a subsidiary of the International SOS Group that specializes in medical services for business aircraft and maritime vessels.

According to Paul Walsh, EBAA senior manager member services, the reps are undergoing a series of training courses to better prepare them to interact with the media – especially pertinent as the industry is having its voice drowned out by well-organized and disruptive environmental campaigners. EBAA has developed a detailed ‘Messaging Guide’ that is freely available on its website.

Protesters painting a business jet in Germany orange all over followed a week after around 200 campaigners managed to break into the static display at the EBACE show in Geneva in May, embarrassing EBAA and co-organizer the US National Business Aviation Association (NBAA).

Speakers and EBAA ambassadors at the Medaire event lamented the media, in general, seeming to prefer to run pictures of ‘fat cats’ and celebrities sipping champagne in business jets, rather than one of the less recognized but incredibly valuable uses such as medical evacuation and monitoring of vital infrastructure.

“We get to see some of the best uses of business aviation that most of the world doesn’t get to see,” said Medaire CEO Bill Dolny, who noted that “the emotional support element” has seen the biggest increase post-pandemic,” helping to drive an expansion of Medaire’s range of services around the world.

He added that business aviation is “the incubator of innovation in aviation and Medaire is no different, e.g., teleconsultation and digital tools for pre-assessment.” Around 4000 business aircraft are covered by Medaire’s services along with thousands of yachts, and airlines that want to ensure they have support and advice for in-flight medical emergencies. Medaire itself does not own aircraft but International SOS has aircraft based in locations such as Frankfurt, Johannesburg, Philadelphia, and Singapore, and utilizes “a global network of ‘credentialized’ third-party air ambulances,” said Ricus Groenewald, International SOS director of operations, worldwide.

During the Covid pandemic, International SOS aircraft and a network of preferred aircraft operators performed over 1200 repatriations as workers and travelers around the world sought to find a way home. According to Dr. Neil Nerwich, group medical director of assistance worldwide for International SOS (and Medaire), the organization takes around four million assistance calls a year. “A critical enabler is being able to operate on aircraft,” he said. “Generally, we use medicalized business jets to move patients. We conduct close to 10,000 medical evacuations a year working very closely with business aviation operators.”

Nerwich said Medaire’s primary Aviation Assistance Center is in Phoenix, Arizona and that along with London the two centers are the hubs for 24-hour coverage. They operate in a network of 28 international SOS Assistance Centers of which eight provide dedicated aviation and maritime industry teams. “All the centers work together, all to the same standards with integrated services,” he said. Over and above that are “multiple remote-site operations and a network of third-party providers.”

The London team is one of the largest with 100 personnel based in Chiswick Park, West London, although in-flight medical emergencies are handled from other centers such as Houston, Texas (the group responds to an average of 300 in-flight emergencies a day of which around 10 are in business aircraft).

Recently the security services side of the company’s business has been expanding, with dedicated security teams based at all 28 Assistance Centers. They monitor country events, civil unrest, and anything else that could impact travelers, FBOs or aircraft.

Hany Bakr, senior VP for aviation and maritime security at Medaire, said the Sudan conflict stands out as a recent situation where International SOS was particularly active, partly because it took most people by surprise. “A lot of people were stranded,” he said. The response included many supply drops and managing evacuations, all managed by a crisis team at the Dubai Assistance Center.

More recently, with protesters highlighting the potential vulnerability of business aircraft (depending on which airport they land at), executive aircraft protection has become a significant line of business. Bakr warned that many FBOs lack the security seen at airline passenger terminals. He also gave a presentation on the Medaire security app, which provides a vast range of intelligence on the security situation at destinations worldwide in a graphical interactive map format.

After touring the London Assistance Centre and seeing the worldwide flight operations digital map, the EBAA ambassadors took part in a panel discussion on the value of business aviation. This started with Ina Schmidt, a consultant anesthetist and intensivist emergency flight physician who is also president of Icarus e.V., an organization that she founded. Icarus seeks to highlight the important roles of medics and others while promoting education and training, alongside encouraging insurers to provide data that would enhance patient safety when being treated unexpectedly.

The panel session concluded by exploring ways in which the wider uses of business aircraft could be better communicated, in particular given the importance it played in the Covid pandemic - from repatriation to the transportation of medical equipment to providing vital air connectivity while airlines were grounded.