Think of a private jet and you might imagine celebrities, millionaires and high-flying business owners summoning a first-class flight to transport them to a luxury location. Yet, these planes are also an essential tool in healthcare logistics, helping transport vital equipment around the globe, and often enabling medicine, blood and organs to reach their destination quicker than any commercial aircraft could, writes Vickie Clark, MD of V Jets.
Life and death stakes
Across the world, 85 million units of blood are transfused every year – with many requiring a co-ordinated logistics effort to reach the patient in a timely manner. Individuals in a critical condition need their blood transfusion to begin within just a few hours, to prevent life-threatening complications.
In the case of organ donation, more sensitive organs such as the heart and lungs must be transplanted within four to six hours, otherwise they risk no longer being viable. Even more resilient organs such as the liver and kidneys require transplantation within 12 hours and 24 to 36 hours respectively to maximise the chance of successful surgery (Donor Alliance).
Even where a commercial airline route could feasibly be used to transport the donor organ, there are limitations involved with this choice: for example, in America the organ must arrive at the airport between an hour and two hours before flight departure, and the cargo office at the destination airport must be open when the flight arrives to ensure the organ can be collected by a courier. The organs are also stored within the cargo hold alongside the checked-in baggage of the flight’s passengers, presenting a potential risk when it comes to safe transportation. In fact, the US Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network cites 2.5% of unused organs can’t be donated due to transport issues.
Luxury lifesavers
Why are private jets preferable? Research suggests private jets may be up to five times quicker end-to-end than commercial airlines or land ambulances when it comes to transporting organs, blood donations and other medical equipment.
This is due to a combination of reasons, not least the ability to use smaller airports, more flexible routes, and faster flight speeds. A jet can be ready to go in as little as two hours after a request has been submitted – and can often land at an airport closer to the destination medical centre, or even a field hospital or rural community. This is especially crucial to allow those in remote areas access to the same kind of medical intervention as their urban counterparts, whose medical facilities are generally nearer a large, commercial airport.
If you’re racing against the clock, there is no room for delays – in those situations, private planes aren’t just moving cargo, they’re delivering hope. When it comes to the use of private jets to transport medical supplies, it’s important to remember the reality – that at least one life can be normally be saved but only if the transportation is swift.
There are so many examples of such life-saving missions, like the 7-year-old boy who needed an emergency transfusion after a serious accident in the Caribbean. His rare blood type was not available locally and there were no commercial flights due to land on the island for the next 48 hours – so a private jet delivered the much-needed blood from Miami in less than five hours.
Sometimes, it’s not an isolated incident but a full-scale crisis which requires private planes to be drafted in to support medics on the ground. In Sudan in 2023, commercial airlines suspended services due to the conflict there, but aid organisations were desperate for medical supplies, utilising private jets to ensure they arrived as quickly as possible.
And in West Africa, when there was an Ebola flare-up, a private jet flew in hazmat suits, mobile isolation units and specialised antivirals for WHO doctors. The supplies arrived in ten hours, compared to the three days it would have taken to transport them commercially. When roads are destroyed, airports are shut, and time is running out, a private jet can still make it through, giving hope to those previously battling against seemingly unbeatable odds. This is the side of private aviation that people don’t see – flying stem cells, vaccines, and hearts to patients in need.
Whether due to natural disaster, political unrest, a sudden disease outbreak, or a life hanging in the balance due to illness or accident, time and efficiency is of the essence – and that’s when the private aviation sector proves its about more than just A-listers and corporate giants: it’s capable of saving lives.
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