Generali Global Assistance Joins CAPSCA to provide Medical Transport Expertise and Enhance Public Health Response Coordination

Generali Global Assistance (“GGA”) today announced it is partnering with the Collaborative Arrangement for the Prevention and Management of Public Health Events in Civil Aviation (“CAPSCA”).  Established in 2006 to bring together public and private aviation stakeholders for a coordinated approach to public health risks, CAPSCA is managed by the International Civil Aviation Organization (“ICAO”) with support from the World Health Organization.  GGA, a recognized expert in emergency medical transport, is sharing select proprietary data points about the medical transport flights they have organized since 2019.

Chris Carnicelli, CEO of Generali Global Assistance, commented on the news, “Partnering with CAPSCA was an easy decision for us. The good work that CAPSCA does in coordinating global resources impressed us as we began our discussions. Our expertise in emergency medical transport and global reach will allow us to be a valuable partner moving forward. Our corporate mission is to be a lifetime partner with our customers and now we get to be a lifetime partner to the world through the ICAO CAPSCA program. Our assistance services are based on caring for our customers and we want to extend that level of care to public health situations where our expertise and resources can help save lives.”

A leader in emergency medical transport, GGA will support CAPSCA’s mission of international cooperation at the public and private levels in all areas of aviation that might be affected by a public health event. By becoming partners of CAPSCA, GGA will contribute to raise awareness, share knowledge, best practices, support coordination, and assist partners in difficult situations. As the world emerges from the current pandemic and prepares for future health crises, GGA will play an important role in providing resources and expertise to CAPSCA.

Dr. Ansa Jordaan, CAPSCA program manager, and Chief, Aviation Medicine Section, ICAO, added, “The extent of the work that CAPSCA does would not be possible without the support from our stakeholders like GGA.  Their role, as a partner, will not just be to provide much needed resources, but to leverage their extensive medical transport expertise to work closely with our team as we improve standards of care and review strategies for future world health emergencies.”

As it prepared to partner with CAPSCA, GGA looked back at the medical transports it arranged both during the pandemic and the year before the pandemic. Some interesting trends and statistics emerged:

• GGA saw only an eight percent decline in medical transports in 2020 verse 2019.
  • Lower than the 60% decline in world total passengers in 2020, according to the ICAO Air Transport Reporting data.
• Medical transport requests are increasing in 2021, however, analysis shows that volume will remain seven percent lower than before the pandemic (2019).
• Based on available data, air ambulance transports from locations lacking adequate medical facilities increased during the pandemic.
• Almost six percent of all medical transports performed by GGA in the past three years were within the United States.
• Cost of a medical transport flight (including evacuation and repatriation by commercial airline or air ambulance) remained relatively stable with a three-year average of $22,780, trending slightly downward since 2019.
  • In 2020 the average cost of medical transport went down by five percent with a two percent increase in 2021 – showing a net three-year drop of three percent.
• The cost of air ambulance transport went down by 26% in 2020 verse 2019, while the number of air ambulance transports only decreased by five percent. Medical transports can run into the six figures depending on the circumstances and locations, some of the most expensive transports include:
  • In 2019, a $138,440 medical repatriation from Taiyuan, Shanxi province, China to Teterboro, New Jersey, USA.
  • A $180,355 medical repatriation from Bangkok, Thailand to Guadalajara, Mexico in 2020.
  • A $124,800 medical repatriation from Diego Garcia, an island in the British Indian Ocean Territory, to Manila, Philippines is the current leader for 2021.
• Bermuda was one of the top locations for medical evacuations over the past three years.
• Boston, Massachusetts was the top US city for GGA-performed medical repatriations from around the world.

“As our data demonstrates – emergency medical transports did not significantly decrease during the pandemic.  Having reliable, consistent access to a highly qualified travel assistance company that can provide these resources will be valuable in the wake of our current health crisis.  In addition to leveraging our understanding of medical transportation, we also care about our customers and want to provide them peace of mind during moments of distress,” added James Sion, Chief Operating Officer of Generali Global Assistance.