Every year, over 400,000 medical flight evacuations and rescues take place in the United States and each ride can cost up to $25,000. Going by these figures, it is obvious that the market potential is huge. This is a fact that has not gone unnoticed by private equity investors. It is, therefore, no surprise that the country has over 75 medical flight companies that have about 1,500 air ambulances. A big number no doubt but it also means that the market is competed out by these numbers. Now, add the burden of increasing security standards and the profit margins begin thinning significantly.
Medical Safety Standards Constantly Evolve
When you look at the number of medical flight accidents that take place, it is certainly much smaller than the road accidents that we witness every day. That’s because the safety standards of the industry are quite high. The reason behind this is the constantly evolving safety benchmarks laid down by institutions like the Federal Aviation Administration of the country. These agencies make it impossible for medical flight companies to adopt a lax attitude towards safety. They simply cannot fly without following the specified safety standards and defying them or trying to break the rules can result in license suspension, financial penalties and more.
Regulations are an Incentive for Safety
Regulations not only govern safety surrounding the customers, but they also cover the crew members. For instance, any medical flight taking to the skies in the evenings or in a bad light must equip its pilots with night vision technology. Coming to the cost of safety, this is one area where the medical flight industry is left in the lurch. The increasing costs are not given due consideration by the insurance companies forcing the medical flight companies to put the burden of payment on the end consumers.
