First ‘Air-Taxi’ for the Sick Set to Take Off in Croatia

Croatia is expected to get approval for its first ever commercial air-taxi for sick patients from the Civil Aviation Agency later this month…

Osijek-based company Air Pannonia are set to be the first company to operate a commercial air-taxi service in the country. The company have purchased a Beechcraft king air C 90 plane for around 400,000 euros, and have invested a further 65,000 euros in extra equipment to transport patients and organs around the country.

“Osijek airport is ideal for this venture. In half an hour to 45 minutes our planes can be in Dubrovnik, Budapest, Belgrade, Sarajevo, Zagreb, Zadar or Ljubljana. Taking into account the large number of Gastarbeiters (migrant workers) who have insurance in the countries in which they work, and gravitate towards Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia, Turkey, and the number of accidents that occur, we believe that it was necessary to offer such a thing,” Air Pannonia’s Domagoj Vlašić told daily 24sata.

Air Pannonia’s aircraft will be equipped with lifeport equipment, and be decked out like an ambulance with bottled oxygen, an electrocardiogram machine, bed and connections for an incubator or refrigerator for the transportation of organs. The planes will be on-call 24-hours day.

“We’re not a flying ambulance, but transport for stabilized patients who need a recumbent position for transfer,” Vlašić explains, adding that the planes will be able to transport premature babies, a duty which the Government’s Challenger aircraft currently carries out. (pic; Glas Slavonia / Air Pannonia)