medivac
Medivac flights: what they are and what they really cost
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Ambulance aérienne
Escorte médicale
Ambulance routière
What a medivac looks like in practice: an ambulance, an aircraft, and a team that stays with the patient throughout.
- Response
- Usually within the hour
- Options
- Road, escort or aircraft
- Escort
- Doctor or flight nurse
- Available
- 24/7, worldwide
Start here if you are paying privately
Roughly one in six people who contact us has no insurance cover for the transfer, or has had a claim refused. If that is you, the single most useful thing to know is this: the format decides the price, and the format is a medical question.
Families often assume they need a dedicated aircraft because that is what comes up first in a search. For a stable patient, a flight nurse accompanying them on a normal airline flight is just as safe and costs a fraction as much. We would rather tell you that than quote you an aircraft you cannot afford.
| Option | Relative cost | Suitable when |
|---|---|---|
| Road ambulance | Lowest | Neighbouring countries, stable patient |
| Medical escort on an airline | Low | Patient is stable and can sit or lie across seats |
| Air ambulance, regional | High | Unstable, ventilated, or no suitable flight |
| Air ambulance, long haul | Highest | Intercontinental, intensive care on board |
Questions worth asking any provider
Medical transport is a market where it is hard to judge quality from the outside. These five questions separate operators from intermediaries, and they cost nothing to ask.
- Is the quoted price the total? Ground ambulances at both ends, landing fees, permits and crew costs should all be inside it. Ask specifically what is excluded.
- Who is on board? A flight nurse, a doctor, or an intensive-care team. The answer should follow from the patient's condition, not from the price tier.
- Have you spoken to the treating physician? A provider who quotes without that conversation is guessing.
- Is a receiving bed confirmed? A flight with nowhere to land is not a plan.
- What happens if the patient deteriorates before departure? There should be a clear answer, including what it costs you.
What the medical team does
The value of a medivac is not the aircraft, it is that treatment never stops. The team collects the patient at the bedside, takes over care from the local staff, and keeps monitoring, medication and ventilation running through the whole journey — through the ambulance ride, the transfer at the aircraft, the flight, and the ride at the other end.
At the destination they hand over to the receiving hospital in person, with a written record of everything that happened en route. That handover is the point of the exercise: the receiving doctor starts with a full picture rather than a patient and a shrug.
How long it takes
An urgent air ambulance can leave within hours of being confirmed. An escorted airline flight usually takes one to three days, mostly because suitable seats or a stretcher installation have to be arranged with the carrier.
In practice, the delay is rarely on our side. The two things that hold transfers up are medical clearance from the hospital the patient is in, and a confirmed bed at the hospital they are going to. We chase both from the moment you contact us.
How it works
Tell us the situation
Which hospital, which country, what happened. You do not need medical terminology.
We call the hospital
Our doctor speaks to the treating physician to establish what is safe.
You get options, not one price
Where more than one format is medically acceptable, we show you both and what each costs.
We arrange everything
Insurer or payment, permits, receiving hospital, ambulances at both ends.
Your relative comes home
Accompanied the entire way, handed over doctor to doctor.
Questions fréquemment posées
Related services
Not sure which option fits? Ask us
Tell us where your relative is and what happened. We will tell you honestly what is medically necessary and what it costs, including the cheaper option if there is one.