MedAire has been in business for 40 years, and at the recent 2025 NBAA-BACE in Las Vegas that ran from October 14-16, Chris Potter, the company’s head of marketing, talked about the history of the company and how impactful they have been in managing in-flight medical emergencies. He mentioned its first product was the aircraft first aid kit, made in the founder’s garage.
That has been improved through the years and is now the Advanced Aviation Medical Kit (AAMK), and for the company’s 40th year they are taking a brand new look at the AAMK to see how it could be improved, to make it more accessible for the future, more sustainable overall for the environment, as well as how to make it more efficient for the first-to-care. Potter said the main driver is quicker access to care.
MedAire has three main kits – the initial response kit has PPE, initial diagnostic equipment, bandages, and some first aid care. Then there is more advanced care such as epi pens, nitroglycerin for more acute types of emergencies.
The company has an app that has a content card with for all the contents, labeled and numbered so if communication is via chat or phone, the technician on the other end can assist the onsite caregiver with specific instructions. In addition, if there is a language barrier or in the case of an untrained onsite caregiver, the assistant might tell the caregiver that the medication is D-34 rather than a medical or pharmaceutical terminology that may not be correctly understood.
The main business of MedAire is to address in-flight medical emergency response, and Potter said the company takes over 500 in-flight emergency calls every day. In BGA (business and general aviation) they work with 6,800 aircraft, and 180 airlines using MedAire’s services.
In 2024 MedAire fielded 60,000 in-flight cases and helped manage those emergencies in flight or assisted with diverting the aircraft to the airport closest to the best possible hospital for that specific case.
The company has a wide range of communications capabilities such as radio, satcom, VoIP, the company’s own app which averages 10,000 voice minutes per month for aircraft that have WiFi capability. For others, there are multiple ways to communicate with MedAire.
MedAire’s in-flight calls are managed by ER physicians that have aviation training. The ER docs are located in an actual emergency room at Banner-University Medical Center in Phoenix, Arizona. The two physicians who are working the calls can easily get assistance from other ER docs on duty in the facility in the event more capacity is needed.
MedAire also has full-time physicians on staff to work with clients, to help understand what’s going on with any patient on board, whether it’s crew or passengers. At any given time there are two full-time doctors on duty at the call center fielding emergency calls.
MedAire has 5,200 doctors around the world who work on both in-flight emergencies as well as cases and clients on the ground.
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