By Nicholas Ionides in Singapore
Hainan Airlines’ business jet unit Deer Jet and International SOS have teamed up to provide the first medical emergency flight services between China and Taiwan.
Under a recent deal between China and Taiwan, medical emergency flights can for the first time be operated at any time of the year across the Taiwan Straits. In the past ill Taiwanese residents or visitors in China needed to transfer through Hong Kong to return home for emergency medical treatment.
Deer Jet will be providing a Raytheon Hawker 800XP for the emergency transfer services, which will also be offered from China to other parts of Asia. It says the aircraft will be based in Beijing and it has been transformed “from an eight-seater commercial aircraft into an ‘air ambulance’ with a whole set of ICU facilities”.
The deal between Deer Jet and International SOS came a fortnight after China and rival Taiwan agreed to allow their airlines to operate regular passenger charter flights between the two sides during major holiday periods.
As part of that historic flight deal, the two sides said they would allow non-stop medical charter flights and would look into allowing cargo services.
China considers Taiwan a renegade province and non-stop flights have been banned since 1949, forcing air passengers and cargo to transit through a third point, normally Hong Kong or Macau. Thousands of Taiwanese business people live in China despite the decades of political tensions.
Source: Flight International
