SVG AIR reverses decision on Air Ambulance

The management of SVG Air has reversed its decision to discontinue their Air Ambulance service.{{more}}

This decision was taken almost a week after it was reported that the local airline would be terminating its Air Ambulance service.

When contacted by SEARCHLIGHT to bring clarity on the matter, Paul Gravel, Managing Director of SVG Air, acknowledged that the report carried in SEARCHLIGHT’s edition of Friday, August 13, that the airline intended to terminate the service was accurate.

He also said that the termination announcement came as an “immediate reaction” to the accident.

“We were very disheartened and we didn’t realize that we provided such an essential service,” Gravel told SEARCHLIGHT.

He went on to say that since the article appeared in SEARCHLIGHT, the offices of SVG Air had been “bombarded with phone calls from hoteliers and citizens in the Grenadines.”

Meanwhile, the SVG Air official said that they are now in the process of purchasing new equipment to continue the service and the company will be outfitting the British Norman Islander and the Citation Jet CE5550 aircraft for this purpose.

“This will ensure that we serve both markets: the rich and famous as well as the local market,” Gravel explained.

He added that the service will resume as soon as the equipment arrives and is approved for use by the Eastern Caribbean Civil Aviation Authority (ECCAA), a process they estimate to take “a couple of months”.

In the meantime, Gravel said that the airline will be offering air relief flights without the assistance of oxygen and other life support systems.

“If you’re sick in the Grenadines, then we will come and get you,” he said. (DD)