June 2013, Luxembourg. Luxembourg Air Ambulance (LAA) has won a contract to become the official carrier of organs and medical teams over the French territory. Using its air ambulance fixed wing aircraft LAA can synchronize multi organ transportation.
Its experience in dispatching and logistics allows LAA to ensure that organs are delivered from the hospital where the donor is located to the receiving hospital within the required time frame - two hours for the heart and between six and 10 hours for liver and pancreas, for example.
LAA works with the French Biomedicine Agency, which manages available organs throughout France. In a two-way process, the Biomedicine Agency will inform LAA about the organ type and location of the donor and, after checking its national register of recipients, will also provide the necessary information about the receiving hospital.
LAA dispatchers then organise the flight plans and arrange for the pick-up of the medical team of the receiving patient, drop the team off at the nearest airport to the donor hospital and fly back with team and organ to the receiving hospital. The Biomedicine Agency arranges the ground transportation for the team between the airport and the hospital.