Fox Flight Air Ambulance Wins International Award
(Toronto, October 23, 2020 – by Frank Condron)
Fox Flight Air Ambulance, a Canadian company specializing in international medical repatriation, has been honoured by the Paris-based International Assistance Group (IAG) with the group’s annual award for Corporate Social Responsibility. This award was presented to Fox Flight at IAG’s recent annual member Forum, which was held virtually this year due to the global COVID-19 pandemic. The annual IAG Forum brings together professionals from around the world in the areas of travel health insurance, travel assistance and international medical transport.
”"Our entire team at Fox Flight is delighted to win this award and we are grateful to IAG for recognizing our company... It has been a challenging year for everyone in our industry, so it was great to be able to share a good news story with our fellow IAG members."
David FoxPresident of Fox Flight
This year’s IAG Corporate Social Responsibility award went to Fox Flight in recognition of a compassionate mission undertaken by the company in June to retrieve three orphan girls trapped in Haiti due to pandemic travel restrictions. Following a lengthy adoption process, the three orphan girls, all aged five, were on track to join their adoptive Canadian families in early 2020 when COVID hit. To prevent the spread of the virus, the island nation banned all air traffic, with the exception of domestic, military, cargo and air ambulance flights. Given the conditions at the time, the families had no way of knowing when travel restrictions might be lifted. In desperation they reached out to Fox Flight for help.
“The heavy pandemic restrictions that were in place at the time certainly complicated matters,” added Fox. “But we have extensive experience flying missions to the Caribbean, so we were able to secure the landing and overfly clearances required and we co-ordinated with Haitian and Canadian Customs officials to make the mission could go ahead. We also worked to get the cost of the mission down to the bare minimum – essentially the cost of fuel.”
On June 8 a Fox Flight Lear 40XR air ambulance departed from Toronto for Port au Prince with a crew of two pilots and two nurses. Later that same day the plane touched down back at Pearson International Airport with the girls on board. Members of their adoptive Canadian families were waiting on the tarmac to greet them.
Said Fox: “After 24 years in the business, this was definitely one of our more unusual missions, but also one of the most rewarding; we’re just happy we were able to help.”
A short video about the mission can be viewed at the following link:
About IAG
Founded in 1992, IAG is the world’s largest alliance of independent assistance companies and accredited service providers. With head offices in Paris, IAG represents more than 140 member companies worldwide providing roadside, medical, travel, corporate and home assistance for business and leisure travellers, expatriate workers and corporate clients. IAG’s Core Partners and Accredited Service Providers currently support over 118 million clients around the globe.
To learn more, visit the IAG website: www.international-assistance-group.com
About Fox Flight
Founded in 1996, Fox Flight Inc. is a Canadian air ambulance company providing international, 24-hour, emergency medical transport, bed-to-bed stretcher evacuation and patient escort services on commercial flights. Fox Flight employs a staff of fully licensed physicians, nurses and respiratory therapists as well as highly experienced pilots and aviation maintenance technicians. The company’s fleet of dedicated, fixed-wing air ambulances consists of specially configured Lear-40XR jets equipped with the latest in advanced intensive care medical technology. Fox Flight’s head office and hangar facilities are located in Toronto.
To learn more, visit our website: www.foxflight.com
