The Ontario government is spending $93 million to expand the Ornge Air Ambulance fleet, help it hire 102 new front-line staff and build a hangar at the Lake Simcoe Regional Airport.
During a press conference at the airport between Barrie and Orillia Tuesday morning, Sylvia Jones, Ontario’s deputy premier and minister of health, said the investment is proof the Ontario government is making progress to support faster, improved access to the critical care Ontario residents need.
“This investment will expand the Ornge Air Ambulance fleet with the addition of two new larger, high-speed, fixed-wing aircraft which can complete double the number of long distance patient transports compared to our current smaller aircraft,” Jones said.
“The new larger, faster aircraft will ensure Ornge Air Ambulance service can connect more patients to urgent care, especially those living in rural and remote communities.”
Jones said Tuesday’s announcement builds on the provincial government’s previous $118-million commitment to expand Ornge’s fixed-wing fleet with four additional planes and replacement of their existing eight fixed-wing fleet.
“We are exceptionally excited by this,” said Dr. Homer Tien, president and chief executive officer of Ornge. “Around this time last year we were in Sudbury to announce the renewal and expansion of our fixed wing fleet.
“Today’s announcement is a continuation of that, another significant step toward enhancing air ambulance and critical care transport services for the patients of Ontario,” he added.
According to Tien, Ornge will be purchasing two Pilatus PC-24 jets, described as light business jets, produced by Pilatus Aircraft of Switzerland.
He said the first one will be delivered in December, 2027 and the second one is scheduled for delivery a short time later, in early 2028.
Delivery of the jets, he added, should occur about three months after the hangar is built.
Tien said the Lake Simcoe Regional Airport will become Ornge’s 15th base of operation in the province. He said the location is well suited to Ornge’s future plans.
“Our Simcoe County base will be unique in our system,” he said. “It will be the base of operations for what we’re calling our special mission aircraft, which will enhance our fixed wing capability in Ontario even further and allow us to deliver on our mandate of health equity in Ontario.”
Tien said there were two key benefits to locating the ‘special mission aircraft’ at Lake Simcoe Regional Airport — space and location.
“I think Oro-Medonte has the benefit of having a lot of space for our teams, our aircraft and for maintenance,” Tien said. “A lot of these patients are being transported to tertiary care centres in the GTA — the location is perfect.
“We can get to the GTA, drop off the patients and then come back to our hangar space here with the full ability to do maintenance and so forth.”
Tien said the new jets are more versatile than what the service is currently using, affording the organization the opportunity to expand the PC-24’s usage.
“We will be able to move supplies to the North and help with evacuations,” he said.
Additionally, he said, the new aircraft will support the ultra-long distance transportation of patients, allowing the northern fleet to stay in their base regions for shorter haul transports.
