On 10 June 2026, the helicopters of Gulf Med Aviation Services completed their one-thousandth mission in service of the Helicopter Emergency Medical Service (HEMS) of the National Institute of Medical Emergency (INEM). Less than a year after operations began in Portugal. 1,515 flight hours. 644 patients transported. An operational availability rate above 98%.
It was 9:56 when the helicopter based in Évora received the activation. A secondary mission. On board, pilots Rodrigo Sá, Alex Ullberg and the INEM medical team. In under three minutes, the aircraft was airborne. It was Gulf Med Aviation Services’ one-thousandth mission in Portugal.
Each of the 1,000 missions counted here has a name, a family, a story. What they share is having happened at a moment when time mattered and there was a helicopter ready to depart.
Image: Rodrigo Sá and Alex Ullberg – Pilots on the mission
The figures
Gulf Med Aviation Services, a Medilink International Group company, began operations in Portugal on 1 July 2025, following an international public tender. In under twelve months, the operation has delivered the following results:
- 1,000 missions completed (626 primary / 361 secondary)
- 1,515 flight hours
- 644 patients carried
- Operational availability rate above 98%
By base:
Évora: 321 missions | 494 flight hours | 205 patients transported
Loulé: 237 missions | 398 flight hours | 158 patients transported
Macedo de Cavaleiros: 245 missions | 364 flight hours | 162 patients transported
Viseu: 296 missions | 159 flight hours | 119 patients transported
What lies behind every mission
There is what you see: a helicopter lifting off, landing beside the patient, transporting them to hospital. And there is what you do not see: the engineers who, hours earlier, checked every system on the aircraft. The pilots who reviewed the weather briefing. The operations team made sure everything was ready.
Image: Mission in transit
It is that collective, invisible, uninterrupted work that makes an average activation time of around three minutes possible. And that explains how, on some days, all four Gulf Med Aviation Services helicopters were simultaneously airborne, each responding to a different emergency at a different point across mainland Portugal.
“One thousand missions are not merely a statistical milestone. They are one thousand moments when someone, somewhere in mainland Portugal, needed urgent help and we were there. This result reflects the dedication of the entire Gulf Med Aviation Services team and the joint effort with INEM’s professionals”, says Simon J. Camilleri, CEO of Gulf Med Aviation Services and Group Executive Director of Medilink International.
“Operations in Portugal are now at cruising speed and our pilots have responded to the demands of this service in exemplary fashion. Average aircraft activation times are around three minutes. That figure says a great deal about the commitment and preparation of our teams”, highlights Hugo Chambel, Director of Gulf Med Aviation Services for the Iberian Peninsula.
“Behind every mission there is an enormous amount of work that begins long before the helicopter lifts off: maintenance, planning, training, coordination. When all of that functions as it should, the result shows in the air. And it shows in the figures being achieved”, concludes Bram Sevenhuijsen, Flight Operations Manager, Gulf Med Aviation Services.
Image: H145 landing during the mission
A partnership that saves lives
Gulf Med Aviation Services is responsible for the aeronautical component of the HEMS operation: the aircraft, the pilots and the maintenance. The medical teams on board are INEM professionals, doctors and nurses who, mission after mission, board with confidence and give everything they know how to give.
It is that partnership, in the air and on the ground, that underpins the 1,000 missions. And it is to that partnership that Gulf Med Aviation Services pays its due recognition.
“This result belongs to them too. The partnership with INEM is the foundation of everything we do in Portugal”, concludes Simon J. Camilleri.
Four bases. One fleet. One purpose.
Operations in Portugal are maintained across four permanent bases in Évora, Loulé, Macedo de Cavaleiros and Viseu, with Airbus H145 helicopters operating 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. The fleet also includes a fifth H145 dedicated to reserve duty, ensuring rapid substitution whenever maintenance is required.
The contract with INEM runs until the end of 2030. The 1,000 missions are a milestone. The journey continues.
Image: Portugese medical team during the mission