Airbus Envisions Medical Application of eVTOLs in Norway

Airbus Helicopters has partnered with the Norwegian Air Ambulance Foundation to explore the potential of eVTOLs for medical use in Norway.

The two sides will explore the advantage of electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft and work on the configuration of Airbus CityAirbus NextGen, a four-seat eVTOL aircraft that is able to fly 80 km (50 miles) at a cruise speed of 120 km/h.

After evaluating the status of Norway’s current medical system, Airbus and the Norwegian Air Ambulance Foundation will also work on a roadmap to reduce emergency response time and optimize the national healthcare systems in Norway, with the further possibility of expanding this collaborative approach to other countries.

While the debate on whether eVTOLs will replace helicopters in the future goes on, Hans-Morten Lossius, Secretary General of the Norwegian Air Ambulance Foundation, stressed the complementary role of eVTOLs to helicopters.

“Complementarity is a key driver in this endeavor: helicopters remain essential to perform EMS missions, whilst eVTOLs can bring additional capabilities to support first responders, for instance by transporting medical specialists to accident scenes or organs from one medical site to another,” Lossius said.

Balkiz Sarihan, Head of Urban Air Mobility, Airbus, said the company looks forward to protecting citizens and making effective eVTOLs healthcare available to everyone in Norway.

The partnership came days after Airbus announced plans to start receiving parts for its CityAirbus NextGen eVTOL prototype, which has made it one step closer to flight testing in 2024.

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