On 1 January Scandinavian AirAmbulance (SAA) opened its tenth helicopter base – a HEMS station in Ringsted, Denmark. The Danish HEMS station is situated southwest of Copenhagen and it employs a single-pilot EC145  that sits in alert 24 hours around the clock. The helicopter is operated in partnership wih Falck Ambulans on a January-October interim contract with Region Sjælland and Region Hovedstaden.

The region has had an EMS helicopter since 2010, when the German company DRF Air Rescue was awarded a three-year daytime evaluation period. The service made history by becoming the first regular EMS operation in Denmark. It has now been inherited by SAA, which has strengthened the unit’s availability by adding the capacity to fly at night helped by night vision goggles (NVG).

Denmark is planning to launch its new EMS helicopter structure in October 2014. The operation of the three air stations, one in Ringsted, one in Skive and one in Billund, has been awarded to the Norwegian company Norsk Luftambulanse (NLA).

Scandinavian AirAmbulance is a large Swedish company that operates both intensive care airplanes and EMS helicopters throughout large parts of Scandinavia. It has six Swedish helicopter bases; Gällivare, Lycksele, Stockholm, Upsala, Visby and Östersund, three Finnish bases; Kuopio, Rovaniemi and Uleåborg, as well as the new Danish base in Ringsted. The helicopters are operated through the company’s helicopter branch,Scandinavian MediCopter (SMC). SMC has a fleet of Dauphin, EC135 and EC145 helicopters, and it is currently in the process of taking delivery of its very first Bell 429.

Reproduced from Nordic Rotors with permission. Copyright and full responsibility for the content of this article remains with Nordic Rotors