CheckUP proudly acknowledges Angel Flight’s Rural Medi-Flight Service for making healthcare accessible to remote communities and beyond.

Over the past three years, Angel Flight has seen a significant increase in demand for transporting health professionals to rural and remote communities across Australia. In response, Angel Flight launched its Rural Medi-Flight service in early 2024—an innovative approach that flips the traditional model of flying rural patients into the city by instead flying doctors, allied health professionals, and medical students directly into rural and remote communities.

The Rural Medi-Flight service aims to address the urgent healthcare gap in rural Australia while providing busy health professionals with safe, cost-efficient, and reliable air transport to hard-to-reach communities. The service is designed to bring healthcare directly to the bush, minimising travel disruptions for medical practitioners and allowing them to spend more time with patients and less time in transit.

A professional and reliable service

The dedicated air service operates to the highest standards, under the Air Transport Category, and is flown by highly experienced airline pilots with Instructor and Check and Training Captain status. Angel Flight’s health professional passengers have consistently praised the professionalism and efficiency of the service, noting that the direct flights save them valuable time, allowing for more patient care and less travel stress.

One medical professional shared, “Being able to fly directly to the community without lengthy travel connections means I can dedicate more time to my patients. The professionalism of Angel Flight’s service makes the entire journey seamless and stress-free.”

The aircraft used for Rural Medi-Flights is a comfortable 8-10 seat, cabin-class, twin-engine plane affectionately named Kayla—a tribute to an Angel Flight passenger who flew 400 missions before sadly losing her health battle at the age of 23. Kayla’s size and versatility enables it to land at all country town airfields, making it perfect for reaching remote areas.

Making an impact across Queensland

Since its launch, the Rural Medi-Flight service has flown specialists, allied health professionals, and medical students to 22 communities and counting, from Birdsville to Blackall, Monto to Mornington, the service has become an invaluable lifeline for rural areas that previously faced long waiting times or extensive travel to access medical care.

Image: “Kayla” the aircraft used for Rural Medi-Flights at dusk.

A vision for national expansion

With the success of the Queensland-based service, Angel Flight is planning to expand the Rural Medi-Flight model into a national operation, with dedicated aircraft based in each capital city as well as key regional hubs like Cairns and Port Hedland. However, this ambitious vision will only be possible with government or significant private funding.

Until then, Angel Flight remains committed to sustaining its current operations, ensuring that doctors can continue reaching the communities that need care the most.