STAT MedEvac, an Airbus customer for nearly 40 years, has committed to ordering 10 new H135 helicopters as part of a fleet renewal initiative for its air medical operations. STAT’s total Airbus fleet, a mix of H135 and H145 family aircraft, operates out of 18 bases.
“We’ve been flying Airbus products since we began our operations, and couldn’t imagine it any other way,” said Jim Houser, CEO of STAT Medevac.
STAT MedEvac has flown Airbus helicopters since commencing operations in 1985 and has a longstanding history with the H135 family – it was the first air ambulance program in North America to operate the EC135 in 1997, the first single-pilot IFR programme with an EC135 in U.S. Helicopter Emergency Medical Services (HEMS), the launch customer of the latest H135 variant in North America and the launch customer of the Helionix-equipped version in 2019.
The Pennsylvania-based critical care transport provider is the clinical arm for the Center for Emergency Medicine of Western Pennsylvania, and is also the largest single branded, non-profit medical transport system in the Eastern United States.
“STAT MedEvac has become a key part of the H135’s success in the air medical market, and Airbus is extremely proud to support the life-saving missions they carry out every single day,” said Romain Trapp, President of Airbus Helicopters, Inc. and Head of the North American region.
The H135 is the market leader in emergency medical services (EMS) worldwide and can be fitted with a wide range of EMS configurations, providing direct access and ample room for patient care.
With the lowest operating and maintenance costs of any twin-engine, the proven H135 family of aircraft include Airbus’ Helionix avionics suite and has recently received an alternate gross weight increase for an additional 265lbs of useful load.
Airbus Helicopters is the leading provider of helicopters to the air medical transport industry, providing some 55% of the 2,600 EMS helicopters flying in the world today and more than half of all new air medical helicopters sold in the last decade in the U.S.
