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Aeromedical organisation LifeFlight says it helped a new record number of patients in the 2024 financial year.
The not-for-profit’s helicopters and jets assisted 8,177 people in FY24, up 11.2 per cent on the previous year. LifeFlight helicopters chalked up 5,159 total flying hours, an increase of 25 per cent, across 3,378 total rotary-wing missions.
LifeFlight currently operates a fleet of four air ambulance jets and nine rotary-wing aircraft, with eight bases across Queensland and Singapore.
According to chief operating officer Lee Schofield, LifeFlight’s rescue crews helped 157 patients per week on average, equating to one every 64 minutes.
“The numbers keep rising each year which shows how crucial LifeFlight’s aeromedical service is, reaching far and wide across our state, and helping thousands of people,” he said.
“This past financial year our crews have saved people from challenging situations on land, sea and even on the side of mountains. Our crews are called any day, anytime, and are always ready to spring into action, even in precarious situations, all at no cost to the patient.
“This next financial year we’ll be able to do even more with five additional AW139 helicopters added to our fleet and new expanded bases in Mount Isa and the Sunshine Coast.”
LifeFlight figures showed that Toowoomba was its busiest base, with 891 people assisted, while its jets based in Brisbane, Townsville and Singapore helped 948 people in FY24, double the 473 people assisted in FY23.
According to Tyson Smith, LifeFlight’s general manager of commercial partnerships, the jets completed around 2,100 flying hours in FY23.
“The jets are based in Brisbane, Townsville and Singapore, and they are some of the longest range medically configured jets in our region and in the Southern Hemisphere,” Smith said.
“They can go six and a half hours without a fuel stop, sometimes even up to seven without wind, which means that we have less technical stops and less times the patient has to be on the ground so we can respond faster.”
LifeFlight moved to significantly expand its Queensland infrastructure in 2023, including a new $3.4 million base at Roma in the Maranoa region and a larger base maintenance facility at Archerfield Airport in Brisbane.
It also received a $586.1 million grant over 10 years from the Queensland government, part of which will be used on a massive $18.3 million Sunshine Coast hub.
