Europe Air Ambulance Services Market Analysis

An air ambulance aircraft is used for the safe and comfortable transportation of patients who are critically ill and cannot travel long distance using other mode of transport. An air ambulance is a business class aircraft and is equipped with advanced medical appliances to provide urgent medical assistance for patients. The air ambulance service providers in Europe are currently offering medical repatriation service i.e. to help the citizens of Europe to return back to their country i.e. Europe. Thus, this factor when coupled to other factors is expected to increase the demand for medical service in European countries. Moreover, the companies are working towards the improvement of air ambulance services by innovating new aircrafts with modifications.

Europe Air Ambulance Services Market - Impact of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic is expected to drive the growth of the Europe air ambulance services market over the forecast period. COVID-19 pandemic has significantly impacted the market. An upsurge in demand for helicopter emergency medical services from hospitals, health insurance firms, assistance companies, and independent end-users is witnessed amidst COVID-19. According to the Scandinavian Journal of Trauma, Resuscitation and Emergency Medicine: 2020, six air ambulance services in Europe provided information for the development of special instructions and safety procedures in preparation for handling COVID-19 patients. The following tables depicts the six air ambulance services and their preparation for handling COVID-19 patients.

European air ambulance, one of the regions’ largest air medical services providers, developed new protocols in October 2020 to transport COVID-19 patients. Moreover, the pandemic provided the opportunity to transport COVID-19 patients from rural areas, states, or countries that faced shortage of ICU beds or specialized equipment during pandemic. For instance, Life Flight network, an air ambulance provider in Europe, transported 600 COVID-19 patients in 2020. In total, Life Flight Network has followed full infectious disease protocols for the transportation of nearly 1,300 due to the presence of COVID-like symptoms. Life Flight Network provides ICU-level care, including ventilator support when needed, throughout the transport. The following pie chart shows the number of positive and negative COVID-19 patients transported during the pandemic.

The Europe air ambulance services market is estimated to be valued at US$ 4,619.0 Mn in 2021 and is expected to exhibit a CAGR of 10.1% over the forecast period (2021-2028).

 Figure 1: Europe Air Ambulance Services Market Share (%) Analysis, By Type, 2021

Jet manufacturing companies are involved in selling new helicopter series to the market players in the air ambulance services market. This is expected to increase the growth of the market over the forecast period.

Aircraft manufacturers are engaged in selling their aircrafts to the air ambulance service providers, which is expected to spur the growth of the market over the forecast period. For instance, in January 2020, Bombardier, a Canada-based business jets manufacturer, sold its two Learjet 75 Liberty aircraft to North Dakota-based Fargo Jet Center (FJC) where the aircraft were converted to dedicated medevac configuration i.e. aircraft with room for up to three stretchers and manufactured to more stringent safety standards than other light jets and later were delivered to air ambulance service provider, Lotnicze Pogotowie Ratunkowe (LPR), based in Warsaw, Poland. Lotnicze Pogotowie Ratunkowe provides 24/7 air ambulance services throughout Poland, Europe via a fleet of 27 rotary wing and two turboprop aircraft. The addition of the two Learjet aircrafts will mark the expansion of LPRs operations to include jet aircraft.

Increasing inorganic activities by the market players, such as acquisitions, in order to acquire new set of air crafts, is expected to increase the growth of the market over the forecast period

Key players are involved in inorganic activities such as acquisitions, which is expected to propel the growth of the market over the forecast period. For instance, the ‘Kommunalförbundet Svenskt Ambulansflyg’ (KSA), a national organization formed, mutually owned and financed by all 21 regions in Sweden, KSA acquired six Pilatus PC-24s fully equipped air ambulance configuration from Pilatus Aircraft Ltd. These PC-24s started providing aeromedical care across Sweden since the year 2021.

Europe Air Ambulance Services Market – Restraints

Europe air ambulance services market growth is expected to be hampered in the near future, owing to high cost of the air ambulance services. For instance, according to the article published in the journal, the American Journal of Managed Care: October 4, 2021, the costs for both airplane and helicopter air ambulance transport, average estimated air ambulance costs rose by 76.4% from 2017 to 2020. The following graph shows the gradual increase of the cost of the fixed-wing and rotary-wing air ambulance services, in US$ thousands, from the year 2017 to 2020.

Figure 2: Europe Air Ambulance Services Market Value (US$ Mn) & Y-o-Y Growth (%), 2021 - 2028

Europe Air Ambulance Services Market – Competitive Landscape

Major players operating in the Europe air ambulance services market include Aero Medical Ambulance Service, Aero-Dienst GmbH, Airlec Air Espace, European Air Ambulance, Flightserve International, IAS Medical, Medical Air Service, Quick Air Jet Charter GmbH, Babcock Scandinavian Air Ambulance, Capital Air Ambulance