Hawaii Air Ambulance

Hawaii Air Ambulance and Air Medical Transport

With a population of 1.4 million and 10 million visitors per year, Hawaii’s remote location in the Pacific requires the state to have excellent medical facilities and care.  Hawaii ranks #1 in the United States in healthcare quality with excellent medical facilities and nursing homes. Hawaii ranks quite high in healthcare access as well with a network of hospitals and clinics available to the public.

Interconnecting Hawaii’s islands local air ambulance companies, Hawaii Life Flight, Hawaii Emergency Airlift, and Wing Spirit Air Ambulance, have helicopters and planes to quickly and safely bring patients to higher levels of care such as Hawaii’s preeminent hospital, Queen’s Medical Center, in Honolulu, Hawaii.  Yet, Hawaii Life Flight is not capable of flying its aircraft to mainland or international destinations.

For various reasons, patients require travel to mainland U.S. or internationally to other countries for treatment.  Whether, it is for specialized medical treatments, operations, or transferring patients to facilities nearer to home, Global Air Ambulance combines the aircraft and medical capabilities to quickly and safely transfer even the most critical patients to anywhere in the world.  Call Global Air Ambulance at 800-948-1220 and one of our flight coordinators can give you information on the LearJets and Gulfstreams we use for our Mainland and international flights.

Hawaii’s remote location requires long range aircraft that most air ambulance companies do not use.  Global Air Ambulance utilizes both LearJet 36’s with increased range fuselages and the larger GulfStream 100’s with extended range, full lavatories, extra cargo space and additional passenger capabilities.  Combined with the capacity for full medical teams including medical flight doctors, Flight RNs and critical care RTs, when necessary, Global Air Ambulance has the capability to safely transport your loved one from any of the Hawaiian Islands to anywhere you need to travel.

Hawaii Patient Medical Flight Services

International and Domestic Air Ambulance and Medevac services

Global Air Ambulance can land medical aircraft outfitted as flying intensive care units to any of Hawaii’s many airports, such as Honolulu, Hilo, Kahului, Kona, Lihue and others.  From there, our medical team will come directly to your patient’s medical facility to access the patient and connect necessary medical equipment and medicines to begin the air ambulance journey to the U.S. mainland or to international destinations. 

Once the patient is stabilized on transport equipment, the medical team will bring your patient and travelling family members to a private terminal at the airport by ground ambulance.  Upon arrival, the patient is transferred to the air ambulance stretcher system.  When patient and family are safely onboard, the medical flight begins.  The medical team then continuously monitors and treats the patient until their medevac plane arrives safely at the destination airport.  A ground ambulance will be waiting to take the team and patient immediately to the receiving facility, where your patient is transferred directly to their assigned hospital room.

Airline Medical Stretcher

If your patient has additional available time, many patients can be transferred on a medical airline stretcher from Hawaii to international destinations.  Global Air Ambulance’s medical teams can deliver a high level of medical care to your patient with the airline stretcher option.  However, because of complexities involved with setting up these types of transports, the time between your initial call and the transport date can take 7-10 days.  The cost of airline medical stretcher can be as much as 50% less than air ambulance, if you are able to wait.

While airline medical stretcher is not available from Hawaii to the U.S. Mainland, Global Air Ambulance can take your patient aboard an international airline on a medical stretcher to any international medevac destination. The majority of Asian and European airlines allow medical stretcher transports but U.S., Canadian, and UK airlines do not.

With airline medical stretcher transports.  Global Air Ambulance handles the myriad of details for you.  We coordinate with airline officials, medical desks, airport authorities and ground ambulance companies for our nurses to transfer your patient to the airport, through security and onto the commercial airline.  We then transfer the patient to a waiting stretcher in the rear of a commercial airline.

Our medical team administers care to your patient on the airline medical stretcher with many of the same equipment and medicines that we use on an air ambulance trips, with a few exceptions (Oxygen is limited on commercial flights and vented patients must be transferred on air ambulances). During the flight, the patient’s privacy is maintained by a curtain surrounding the stretcher.  The patient’s vitals are continuously monitored until arriving at the destination.

Airline Medical Escort

For stable patients who can pivot from a wheelchair into a business class seat, airline medical escort may be a good alternative to transferring your patient from Hawaii to the U.S. mainland or any international destination.  Global Air Ambulance can take a variety of patients, including dementia patients, psychiatric patients, elder care, paraplegics, and others requiring assistance.

Due to long flight times, some flights out of Hawaii come equipped with business class seats that recline to lay flat positions.  While patients must be able to sit up for take-off and landing, for a majority of the flight, the patient can be in a laying position.

Hawaii Air Ambulance and Medical Escort Costs

Cost for air ambulance is quite high, beginning at approximately $45,000 to the mainland west coast and rising depending on your patient’s medical needs, the required medical equipment and medical team, your choice of aircraft, and your receiving destination.  Airline medical stretcher trips can be as little as half the cost of air ambulance and escort trips can be as much as half the cost of stretcher trips depending on your patient’s medical needs.

Fuel burn is a major cost of air ambulance from the Hawaiian Islands to the mainland or to international destinations.  Some patients, such as those that are already on 100% supplemental oxygen for instance, need to be flown at sea level pressure.  The lower altitude flight, in these cases, burns more fuel and adds some additional fuel costs.  COVID patients are another example.  For COVID patients with active symptoms, a full medical team consisting of a medical doctor, an RN and a respiratory therapist is required.  The patient will also require a special isolation pod that increases cost as well.  

Please call Global Air Ambulance at 800-948-1220 and our case managers will discuss viable options for your patient and will provide you a price quote for your consideration.

Our Case Managers Are Always Available to Hawaii’s Unique Time Zone

Being 5 hours behind Eastern Standard Time, communications between Hawaii and the East Coast can be shortened for some.  However, Global Air Ambulance communications is open 24 hours a day.  Call us anytime with questions or concerns and one of our case managers will always be available to assist you.

Which of the Hawaiian Islands are served by Global Air Ambulance Airline Medical Escorts?

All of the islands that are served by Hawaiian Air can accommodate travel by airline medical escort.  However, some require a transfer at Honolulu International Airport to other world destinations.  Some Island airports, such as Kahului and Kona have direct flights to destinations such as Canada and Alaska.  American Airlines also flies from multiple worldwide cities to Lihue.

Global Air Ambulance’s case managers will work with you to find the most direct route to ease the stress of your airline medical escort patient and reduce total patient transfer time.

Which Airlines Can Accommodate Global Air Ambulance Airline Medical Stretcher To and From Hawaii?

Global Air Ambulance coordinates will multiple international airlines to be able to transfer your patient by medical airline stretcher.  Our goal is to reduce total patient travel time, to minimize inter-airline transfers, and to be allowed to bring all needed equipment and medicines required to care for your patient on board the airline.  Some of the airlines we use to and from Hawaii include:

• Air Pacific
• All Nippon Airways
• China Airlines
• Japan Airlines
• Korean Air
• Philippine Airlines

Hawaii Airports Served by Air Ambulance

One benefit of air ambulance is that a private jet ambulance can land at airport that have runway lengths of 6,000 feet or more.  Therefore, Global Air Ambulance can land at most Hawaiian airports to transfer your patient to or from Hawaiian Islands without transferring in Honolulu.  We travel to many of Hawaii’s major airports, including:

• Danial K. Inouye Honolulu International Airport (HNL) – Honolulu, Oahu, Hawaii
• Ellison Onizuka Kona International Airport (KOA) – Keahole, Island of Hawaii, Hawaii
• Hana Airport (HNM) – Haiku, Maui, Hawaii
• Hilo International Airport (ITO) – Hilo, Island of Hawaii, Hawaii
• Kahului Airport (OOG) – Kahului,  Maui, Hawaii
• Kapalua-West Maui Airport (JHM) – Lahaina, Maui, Hawaii
• Lihue (LIH) – Kauai, Hawaii

Which Hawaiian Medical Facilities Can a Patient Be Transferred From By Global Air Ambulance?

Global Air Ambulance is not limited to picking up patients from medical facilities.  For stable patients, we can come to their home, hotel, or cruise ship.  However, the risk to the payor is that the air ambulance crew will find that the patient is unfit for travel due to an emergency medical condition that must be treated prior to mainland or international transfer.  For this reason, it is sometimes better for the family to transfer the patient to a local medical facility to stabilize and to treat the patient prior to our arrival.  Call Global Air Ambulance at 800-948-1220 and one of our case managers can discuss your patient’s needs to ensure a safe, cost effective patient transfer.

Global Air Ambulance has transferred over 200,000 patients in the past 30 years, many from local medical facilities on the Hawaiian Islands.  Hawaii has 29 hospitals, multiple behavioral health centers, cancer clinics, rehabilitation centers, long term care facilities, nursing homes, and assisted living facilities.  We work with the attending physicians, case managers, charge nurses, and administrations of these facilities to ensure a safe transfer of your patient.  Our team will obtain a full medical report and any special protocols for your patient will be determined prior to our arrival.

After obtaining a medical report and, our medical staff will assess for you and provide recommendations on a course of action.  In some cases, we will come directly to your home or hotel.  In others, we will recommend a transfer to a local medical facility.  Many of the hospital and other facilities in Hawaii are small community facilities.  Therefore, we may recommend in a few cases that an immediate transfer to a higher level a care within Hawaii’s medical system is the best, first action.

According to U.S. News and World Report, they recommend the top hospitals in in Hawaii as:

1. The Queen’s Medical Center, Honolulu

Queen’s is Hawaii’s best hospital and ranks High-performing cancer; diabetes and endocrinology; ear, nose and throat; geriatrics; neurology and neurosurgery; and orthopedics.

2. Kaiser Permanente Moanalua Medical Center, Honolulu

Kaiser Permanente Moaunalua Medical Center/Yelp

Kaiser Permanente is general hospital with good scores for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and heart failure. 

3. Straub Clinic and Hospital, Honolulu

Straub is among the top 5% of the nation's hospitals and ranks for for pulmonary and stroke care.

4. Pali Momi Medical Center, Aiea

Pali Momi has the first retina center in Hawaii and its only team triage approach to emergency medicine, plus a comprehensive women’s center.

5. Hilo Medical Center, Hilo

Hilo Medical Center is among the top 20% of hospitals in the nation, the top 5 hospitals in the state and the only 4-star ranked hospital on Hawaii Island.

6. Castle Medical Center, Kailua

Castle Medical Center Rates better than the national average for a weighted average of medical procedures.

7. Wilcox Medical Center, Lihue, hawaii

Wilcox Memorial is an acute care hospital with a high rate of patient satisfaction.  Wilcox is the largest medical center on Kauai,  with a state-of-the-art acute care facility offering 30 specialties and programs