A Bumpy Ride

Yunus Dar | New Delhi

The Indian Helicopter Emergency Medical Services (HEMS) sector had a rough take-0ff. The country’s first dedicated helicopter emergency service Aviators Air Rescue (AAR), a Bengaluru-based company, launched on 16 December 2016, in partnership with Med-Trans Corporation (a subsidiary of Air Medical Group Holdings Inc, USA), failed to take off after it reportedly defaulted on payments to lessors and had to shut down. There are a number of reasons why HEMS isn’t doing good in India.

Airbus H145 helicopter

The global HEMS sector is a key market for helicopter manufacturers, along with Search and Rescue (SAR), and will remain a driver for future growth as markets like China and India begin to acquire more such helicopters. The HEMS accounts for more than half of the helicopter market in the world today, worth more than USD30 billion. The significant demand for new rotorcraft from HEMS companies helped the decline in the civilian helicopter market for quite some time now. The wide range of helicopters in this sector – single and light-twin engine – in the HEMS, which include the Airbus Helicopters H125, 130, 135 and 145; Bell 406, 407, 407BXP and 429; Leonardo AW169 and AW139; and the Sikorsky S-76D, have seen a considerable market in the sector.

While the growth in India has been sluggish, the global helicopter manufacturers such as Airbus Helicopters, Bell Helicopter, AgustaWestland, Sikorsky and Russian Helicopters pin their hopes on the developing economy, with an estimated market for 50 helicopters by the end of this decade. The demand for air-medical helicopters is expected to grow substantially after 2020.

A helicopter configured in the air-medical evacuation role with trained crew can quickly stabilise a critically ill or injured patient (on the ground or inside the helicopter), and then have them transferred to a hospital. India lags behind in offering this important emergency medical service compared to other developed