On Day 1 of New Zealand’s 2024 Aeromed Conference, Life Flight New Zealand has signed a partnership agreement with Australian zero emissions aircraft designer and manufacturer, AMSL Aero, to support future aeromedical operations in Australasia using AMSL Aero’s Vertiia hydrogen-electric Vertical Take Off and Landing (VTOL) aircraft.
Vertiia has the capability to connect regional hubs within New Zealand and Australia and, due to the small number of seats, it can conduct on-demand (unscheduled) services to reduce excess capacity empty seats.
The partnership with Life Flight marks a major milestone for AMSL Aero and Vertiia in New Zealand. Vertiia is a world leading air ambulance powered by hydrogen. As a VTOL, it takes off like a helicopter and flies fast and smoothly like a fixed-wing aeroplane. The aircraft will be a highly efficient long range zero emissions VTOL, with a range of up to 1,000 km and cruising speeds of 300 km per hour. Life Flight is the first New Zealand development partner for AMSL Aero. The company’s launch customer, Aviation Logistics, signed a deal in Australia earlier this year for up to 20 of these ground-breaking aircraft.
Both Life Flight and AMSL Aero hope that Vertiia will eventually complement New Zealand’s existing fixed-wing air ambulance fleet to provide exceptional aeromedical capabilities, including transferring both adult and neonatal intensive care patients between hospitals as their level of care requires, together with lower acuity patient transfers.
Max York, CEO of AMSL Aero, said the company was excited to secure its first New Zealand deal with Life Flight.
“This has been a big year for AMSL Aero as we continue to test-fly the aircraft. We are thrilled that our first New Zealand development partner for Vertiia is Life Flight because of the important, life-saving work carried out by this organisation.”
Vertiia’s inventor Andrew Moore, Chief Engineering Officer at AMSL Aero, said: “Vertiia will enable safe, efficient, fast and reliable aircraft to support Life Flight’s aeromedical operations. Our partnership with Life Flight will allow us to include their expert feedback to refine the aircraft’s development for air ambulance work.”
Based in Sydney Australia, AMSL Aero has secured more than AUD$55 million in funding from major private investors, government programs and customers to develop the Vertiia, which is currently progressing through the civil aviation certification process, and is set to change the way people use air travel once it enters production within the next few years.
Life Flight CEO Mark Johnston said: “We’re very excited about being AMSL Aero’s first New Zealand development partner and the potential that Vertiia offers the local aeromedical sector. We’re thrilled to be partnering with an Australasian manufacturer that understands the challenges of operating in both Australian and New Zealand conditions.
“Life Flight had more than a 20 percent jump in aeromedical mission numbers last year and is currently on track for a further 25 percent increase this year – that’s almost double the number of air ambulance missions in just two years, and proof of the growing reliance of Kiwis on our services. Most of our aeromedical flights are generally within 45 minutes flying time from our two bases, potentially providing an ideal flight profile for alternative fuel sources, particularly hydrogen fuel cells. Hydrogen powered aircraft such as AMSL Aero’s Vertiia offer air ambulance operators the potential to significantly reduce our emissions footprint, complementing New Zealand’s existing fleet of air ambulances with state of the art aircraft that are both cheaper to operate and kinder to the environment.”
Life Flight will soon commemorate 50 years of operations, flying nearly 50,000 Kiwis over the past five decades since Peter Button and Dr Russell Worth founded the service in Wellington.