How is a medevac different from a commercial flight with a doctor?

A medevac aircraft is configured for clinical care: stretcher, oxygen, power for medical equipment, in-flight medications, and an ICU or paediatric clinical team. The aircraft, clinical team and ground handling are coordinated as a single mission, not as separate steps on a scheduled flight.

Who arranges a medevac?

Most medevac missions are arranged by treating clinicians, insurers, employers, embassies or families. Aviall's clinical desk speaks directly with the sending and receiving facilities to confirm clinical fit, aircraft selection and handover at both ends.

What does a medevac cost?

Light jet domestic medevac typically starts in the mid five figures AUD. Long-range and trans-Pacific transfers move into higher brackets. Quotes are built bottom-up against clinical condition, aircraft, route and timing, and returned within the hour.

How fast can a medevac launch?

For a positioned aircraft and confirmed clinical handover, wheels-up in three to six hours is standard for King Air and Learjet sectors. Long-range and intercontinental transfers typically need longer for crewing, permits and clinical coordination.

Air ambulance cabin configured for ICU-grade medical evacuation

24/7 Operations Desk · Active Now

Guide · Air Ambulance · 24/7

What is Medevac? Air Ambulance and Medical Evacuation Explained

A clear, plain-English guide for families, insurers, employers and clinicians on what fixed-wing medevac actually is, when it is used, and how a mission is built door-to-door.

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Global

Coverage

24/7

Clinical desk

ICU-grade

Capability

Bed-to-bed

Handover

Speaking to someone is usually the fastest way to start.

Our medical transfer desk is staffed 24 hours. You do not need complete information to make the first call, the current location of the patient and where they need to go is enough to begin.

Call 1800 796 769 Email the medical desk Request a medical transfer

Patient information is treated as sensitive. Medical detail and uploaded reports go only to the clinical and operations coordinators handling the case, are never placed in web addresses, and are never shared with advertising or analytics platforms.

Overview

Medevac, short for medical evacuation, is the use of a purpose-configured aircraft to move a patient from one medical facility, accident site or remote location to another, with a clinical team and equipment matched to the patient's condition. It is not a flight with a paramedic onboard. A genuine medevac mission is built around the patient: aircraft selection, clinical configuration, oxygen and power, in-flight medications, and handover at both ends are coordinated as a single door-to-door mission, not as separate steps.

Where this applies

Aircraft and clinical or operational selection drives airport selection across the network.

Sending facility, hospital, clinic, accident site or remote location with the patient
Departure airfield, runway and ground access matched to the aircraft and clinical team
Receiving airfield, apron access where coordinated, ambulance transfer at the gate elsewhere
Receiving facility, tertiary referral hospital, specialist unit or home-country hospital

Use cases

Medevac is used when the patient cannot be safely or appropriately moved by scheduled commercial flight, when the clinical condition requires en-route ICU, ventilation, multi-line or specialist support, or when the destination is not served by a scheduled service. The decision is clinical first, operational second.

ICU and paediatric transfers between hospitals and tertiary referral centres
Retrieval from remote, mining and offshore locations with limited clinical capability
Inbound transfers from regions with limited tertiary clinical capacity
Outbound repatriation from one country to a home-country hospital
Cardiac, neurosurgical, burns and trauma transfers requiring specialist clinical teams
Paediatric and neonatal transfers on humidicrib-equipped aircraft

Related pages for programme planning:

What this looks like in practice

ICU-grade transfers

Ventilated, multi-line and inotrope-dependent patients with specialist clinical teams.

Paediatric & neonatal

Humidicrib-equipped aircraft and specialist paediatric clinical teams.

Bed-to-bed handover

Coordinated clinical handover from sending bed to receiving bed, door-to-door.

Apron access

Direct apron access at receiving hospitals where coordinated, otherwise ambulance transfer at the gate.

Repatriation

Outbound repatriation across continents to home-country hospitals.

24/7 clinical desk

Clinical and operational coordination available every hour of every day.

Medical transfer & repatriation desk

Request a medical transfer

You do not need a complete clinical picture to contact us. Tell us where the patient is and where they need to go, and a coordinator will start assessing options, aircraft, clinical configuration, crewing, clearances and ground ambulance, while the rest of the information is still being gathered.

Enough to start

Where the patient is now
City or country, and the facility type if you know it
Where they need to go
City, country, or receiving hospital if already arranged
Rough timing
Today, within 24 hours, or later this week
How they are travelling
Seated, wheelchair, stretcher, or intensive care, an estimate is fine

Helpful, but can follow

A medical report, discharge summary or fit-to-fly assessment, uploaded securely
Treating team or transfer-desk contact, so our clinical coordinator can speak with them directly
Insurer, assistance company or funding arrangement, if one applies
Receiving hospital acceptance, where that is still being organised

Clinical acceptance and aircraft availability are confirmed after review by the clinical team and the receiving facility. Contacting us does not by itself confirm a flight, a crew or acceptance of the patient.

Request a medical transfer 1800 796 769 · 24 hours

Or email medical reports and case detail to charters@aviall.com.au

Privacy: patient details and uploaded reports are handled as sensitive information, stored in restricted storage, and passed only to the coordinators and clinicians working the case. They are never written into web addresses, advertising platforms or analytics events.

Urgent charter? Our ops desk is staffed 24/7.

Aircraft options within the hour and a written quote with an indicative wheels-up window.

Request a medical transfer 1800 796 769

Mission examples · Illustrative

What this looks like in operation

Representative mission profiles drawn from recurring work. Identifying details, operators, hospitals, routes, aircraft tail numbers, are intentionally omitted.

International · Repatriation

Long-range stretcher repatriation across the Pacific

A complex case with ventilator and infusion support required movement from a regional Pacific facility back to a domestic tertiary centre. Aviall configured a long-range jet with a critical-care medical fit-out, coordinated bed-to-bed handover with both treating teams, and managed customs and immigration at each stop.

Outcome

Bed-to-bed transfer completed without clinical deterioration en route.

Neonatal · Critical

Neonatal transfer to a tertiary paediatric centre

A neonate requiring escalated care had to be moved from a regional hospital to a metropolitan paediatric tertiary centre. Aviall coordinated an aeromedical aircraft and a specialist retrieval team, with isolette-compatible loading and parent transit on the same airframe.

Outcome

Patient delivered to receiving NICU within the clinical window agreed by both teams.

Remote · Mining medevac

Trauma extraction from a remote mine site

An incident at a remote mine site required immediate movement of a trauma patient to a metropolitan trauma centre. Aviall launched on the standing medevac protocol, with a clinical team mobilised in parallel and the receiving trauma team pre-briefed before take-off.

Outcome

Patient on the operating table at the receiving centre well inside the planned window.

Group medical · Disaster

Multi-patient evacuation after a regional event

Following a regional medical surge, an insurer required several patients moved out of an under-resourced facility on a single mission. Aviall configured a larger airframe with multiple stretcher positions, a senior medical lead and ground ambulance staging at both ends.

Outcome

All patients transferred safely on a single rotation; receiving facility briefed before arrival.

Commercial repatriation

Stretcher case on scheduled wide-body

Where the clinical picture allowed, Aviall arranged a stretcher booking on a commercial wide-body service with a medical escort, including airline approvals, MEDIF clearance, oxygen calculations and ground handover.

Outcome

Cost-effective repatriation completed without the need for a dedicated airframe.

Organ transport

Time-critical transplant logistics

A transplant programme required time-critical movement of a viable organ between two metropolitan centres with a hard ischaemic window. Aviall held an aircraft on standby, coordinated tarmac transfers at both ends and ran a flight-following bridge with the surgical team.

Outcome

Organ delivered inside clinical viability window; recipient surgery proceeded on schedule.

Specialised capability

Related services and locations

Air Ambulance & Medevac

Primary medevac and air ambulance service pillar.

Explore Air Ambulance & Medevac

Air Ambulance Services

Service overview and clinical capability detail.

Explore Air Ambulance Services

Medevac Flights

Clinical, operational and pricing framework.

Explore Medevac Flights

Air Ambulance Cost

Pricing framework for fixed-wing medevac.

Explore Air Ambulance Cost

International Medical Evacuation

Global repatriation framework.

Explore International Medical Evacuation

Medical Evacuation Australia

Australia-focused medevac coverage.

Explore Medical Evacuation Australia

Quick reference

Coverage

Global, with concentration across Australia and the Asia-Pacific

Clinical capability

ICU, paediatric, neonatal, cardiac, neurosurgical and trauma

Smallest practical aircraft

King Air 200 / Learjet 35 for short and remote sectors

Largest practical aircraft

Long-range global-class jets for trans-Pacific and intercontinental transfers

Quote turnaround

Typically under 60 minutes from enquiry

Operations desk

24/7, every day of the year

FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

Medevac is short for medical evacuation, the use of a purpose-configured aircraft to move a patient from one medical facility, accident site or remote location to another, with a clinical team and equipment matched to the patient's condition.

Keep exploring

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Why operators, brokers and end clients keep calling back

Credibility built on operational discipline, not marketing

"Single point of clinical accountability from the call to bed-to-bed handover. Our retrieval team had everything they needed before wheels-up."

, Aeromedical retrieval lead · Tertiary hospital network

"The case management discipline matched our internal standards. That is unusual in the assistance market."

, Operations director · International medical assistance company

"Aircraft selection was driven by the patient's clinical picture, not by what was on the apron. That is the right way around."

, Critical-care physician · Repatriation case

Need to arrange a medevac?

Tell us the patient, the sending and receiving facilities, and the ready time. Aircraft and clinical options returned within the hour.

Request a medical transfer Call 24/7 Ops · 1800 796 769

Have a live requirement?

Tell us where the patient is and where they need to go, that is enough to start. Our medical desk is staffed 24 hours. Attach an existing RFQ, packing list or photos straight from your phone, partial detail is enough to start.

Requirement

Medevac / Air Ambulance

Only the first four fields are needed to start. Anything clinical can follow by phone, email or upload. Patient information is handled as sensitive and is never shared with advertising or analytics platforms.

Patient current location *

Requested destination *

Desired transfer timing

Level of care needed (best estimate)

AttachmentsMedical reports, fit-to-fly assessments or insurer authorisations, uploaded to restricted storage. Files up to 20MB each, 10 max. PDF, Word, Excel, CSV, images or email files.

Requester name *

Relationship / company

Email *

Phone / WhatsApp

This is time-critical, contact me immediately.

Final medical and operational acceptance is subject to clinical review and aircraft/operator availability. Submitting this form does not confirm an aircraft or a medical crew.

Goes straight to our charter desk at Charters@Aviall.com.au. Submitting an RFQ does not confirm an aircraft.

Call 24/7 ops · 1800 796 769

Or email your RFQ directly to charters@aviall.com.au