Medical Flights

Book a medical flight within Australia or throughout the Asia-Pacific region.

For 24/7 emergency tasking and enquiries please call:
1300 655 855 (within Australia) + 61 298 937 683 (outside Australia)

Book or get quote for medical flights:

G150 Air Ambulance Stretcher Loading Darwin Australia

Medical Flight Service

CareFlight is the only medical retrieval organisation in Australasia that owns and operates its own fleet of dedicated jets, King Air turboprops, and helicopters, providing a complete medical flight service from the initial call to hospital admission.

Our fixed-wing medical flight operations are based at Newcastle and Bankstown Airports in New South Wales, as well as Darwin International Airport in the Northern Territory.

Using our own aircraft and highly trained teams of doctors, nurses, pilots, and drivers, CareFlight delivers a seamless medical transport service. From coordinating the first request for assistance to ensuring patients are safely admitted to their destination hospital, every step is managed in-house.

CareFlight has successfully conducted a wide variety of medical transport missions for government agencies such as the Australian National Critical Care and Trauma Response Centre (NCCTRC) and the Australian Defence Force (ADF). We also work with global assistance providers, travel insurance companies, energy and resource sector organisations, and private patients worldwide.

Our in-house expertise covers every aspect of medical flight operations, including staffing, crew rostering, clinical training, aircraft logistics, patient records management, and handling international travel requirements like visas when needed. This allows us to mobilise our medical teams quickly and efficiently, ensuring patients receive urgent care without delay.

Enquire about 24 hour medical flight tasking

Medical flights across Australia

Operating out of our bases at Newcastle and Bankstown Airports in New South Wales, and Darwin International Airport in the Northern Territory. CareFlight has excellent cross-Australia coverage. Outside of Australia CareFlight’s Air Ambulance team provides an important aeromedical service with extensive expertise throughout Australia, Asia and the Pacific.

We can also be activated alongside another medical flight provider to undertake a wing-to-wing transfer for longer range retrieval missions to or from Europe or the Americas.

Find out more about our international medevac services

Our fleet of medical aircraft

Careers

The Gulfstream G150 jet aircraft is a high-speed, long-range ‘ambulance in the sky’. With a range capability in excess of 2600nm, the G150 is capable of transporting a Doctor and Nurse, plus 2 patients and 2 escorts and has a multi- configuration capability to meet specific medical, passenger and cargo needs.

The G150 delivers long range, high payload and flexible configuration, unique amongst other comparable jets, which have significant limitations in one or more of the key capability areas. It can transport up to eight passengers and 250 kg of baggage and equipment and can be rapidly re-configured to provide an aeromedical response, for a single or dual stretcher capability.

With a range capability in excess of 1800nm, the B400 is capable of transporting a Doctor and Nurse, plus a stretchered patient and 2 escorts with a multiconfiguration capability to meet specific medical, passenger and cargo needs.

Based on the East Coast of Australia, our B400 is used to transport critically ill and injured patients over long distances to specialist treatment centres across Australia and internationally. Extensive modifications undertaken by CareFlight’s qualified engineers include installing medical stretchers, special flooring and the electrical components needed to turn the cabins of our Beechjet 400 into a state ofthe-art airborne hospital.

B400 Air Ambulance Picking up Patient in Australia

The King Air is widely used for aeromedical work. Powered by two gas-turbine engines, it has four-bladed propellers, a pressurised cabin and retractable undercarriage. The King Air is an all-weather, day/night capable aircraft. With a range of 1100nm and capable of landing on short dirt and gravel runways it is at home in the Australian bush servicing those in our most remote communities.

CareFlights’s King Airs are extensively modified with wide cargo doors wide cargo doors to allow for easy movement of patients in and out of the planes. Electro-pneumatic loading systems for quicker, safer and smoother stretcher loading. Oxygen systems. The cabin configuration to accommodates two stretcher patients, two seated patients and the aeromedical team.

King-Air-Air-Ambulance-Picking-up-Patient-in-Rural-Australian-Bush

Frequently Asked Questions

What are medical flights?

Medical flights is a generic term for any medical aircraft flight – either a helicopter or fixed-wing plane – outfitted with medical equipment and staffed by healthcare professionals to provide emergency or non-emergency medical transport.

It provides rapid transportation for severely injured or critically ill patients to emergency medical facilities using helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft (turboprops and jets).
Acting as an airborne intensive care unit, it delivers advanced medical care during transport.

Are medical flights free in Australia?

The short answer is no; medical flights are not universally free in Australia. The cost depends on the patient’s circumstances, the provider, state health policies. International medical flights are however generally provided at a cost to either the patient or through insurance providers.

Not-for-profit aeromedical services (e.g., CareFlight, Royal Flying Doctor Service and LifeFlight) often provide emergency services at no direct cost to patients, funded either by donations, sponsorships, state and federal governments, or a combination of all three.
For-profit medical flights providers: charge patients directly, health insurers, or healthcare facilities directly, with costs varying based on flight distance, medical support required, and aircraft type.
State Health Department funded services may transport patients at no cost to the patient through public health care and may utilise either their own fleet of aircraft, not-for-profit services or for-profit providers to do so.

How many medical aircraft are there in Australia?

Australia has over 100 medical aircraft, including both helicopter and fixed-wing services. The fleet is operated by a mix of not-for-profits, state-run services, and private providers.
State and government-contracted services: Some states operate their own Medical Flight fleets (eg. Ambulance Victoria), though most state health organisations operate their own Medical Flight Transport in partnership with not-for-profits or private providers, or a combination of the two.
Not-for-profit providers: CareFlight, LifeFlight, and Royal Flying Doctor Service operate extensive fleets for emergency and remote medical care.
Private providers: Several for-profit companies offer domestic and international Patient Air Transport either under contract from state health services or through payment from patients or private health insurers.

What is the cost of a medical flight?

The cost varies widely based on flight distance, aircraft type, level of medical care needed, as well as the organisation delivering the service. Not-for-profit services may cover the patients costs for domestic services through donations, sponsorships or government funding, while private operators typically charge health insurers or patients directly.

Helicopter medical flights can cost $10,000 to $40,000+ per mission.
Fixed-wing domestic medical flights can range from $5,000 to $25,000+.
International medical flights can exceed $100,000, particularly for long-haul repatriations.

Medical Flight Clinical Capability

CareFlight’s medical aircraft can be configured to carry CareFlight critical care nurses and a doctor, one stretchered patient and/or one seated patient. Patients requiring life support and ventilation are routinely and safely transported on medical flights by our teams.

Our specialist clinical teams are highly skilled and are trained to work together to provide the best clinical care for our patients. Our doctors are specialists in emergency medicine, intensive care or anaesthetics. Our nurses are from intensive care and emergency departments and are aviation nursing trained.

CareFlight is a one-stop-shop medical flight service, by using CareFlight you can rest assured that we will handle all aspects of patient retrieval. Everything is managed in-house, from staffing, crew rostering, clinical, training, aircraft operations and mission logistics. This means we can get our medical teams airborne and on the way to our patients in the shortest possible time.

Medical Flights on Commercial Airlines

As an alternative to a dedicated medical flight service CareFlight also provides medical escorts on scheduled commercial long-haul flights when this is deemed to be the most appropriate way to transport a patient for medical treatment. When this is the preferred option, CareFlight can arrange medical escorts to accompany patients and their carers home or to another hospital.

Our specialist doctors and nurses have transported patients to and from the USA, Europe and Asia via commercial flights, the longest of which took six days to complete.  We place additional crew members at stopover points to ensure continuity of clinical care, and patients requiring life support and ventilation are routinely and safely transported by our teams.

Our experienced centralised logistics coordinators are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week to answer questions on medical escorts and provide support every step of the way.

Contact us

For 24/7 emergency tasking and enquiries please call:
1300 655 855 (within Australia)
+61 2 98937683 (outside Australia)
Email: helppoint@careflight.org

For non urgent enquiries, contact us here: