Rega
Swiss provider operates 3 Bombardier Challenger 650s for air ambulance and repatriation missions.
By Rafael Henríquez
Managing Editor
Rega chose the Challenger 650 platform for its ample cabin, wide door, and proven global reliability, and for the efficiency that comes with operating a single aircraft type.
The story of Rega begins not with jets, but with parachutes. Founded in the aftermath of WWII, the organization’s first responders were light aircraft pilots and parachutists who would brave the treacherous Swiss mountains to reach people in emergency situations.
As helicopter technology advanced, helos became the backbone of Rega’s domestic service. However, recognizing that Swiss citizens also traveled and fell ill abroad, Rega soon expanded its mission to include worldwide repatriation, thus giving birth to its fixed-wing operation.
Choosing an all-Bombardier fleet
Rega’s fixed-wing operation is dedicated to one goal – bringing Swiss patients home from wherever they are in the world. However, the organization not only serves Swiss citizens, but can also be called upon by brokers from all over the world, and regularly does charter flights for brokers, insurance companies, and even governments.
Based at ZRH (Zürich, Switzerland), the fleet consists of 3 Bombardier Challenger 650 jets fully equipped to tackle all kinds of medevac mission, and it’s manned by a highly skilled team that includes pilots, doctors, and nurses, all supported by an outstanding ground operations staff.
This is how Rega ensures that Swiss citizens who fall sick abroad receive world-class medical care on the way home, regardless of their specific medical needs.
The choice of the Challenger 650 was a deliberate one made by a former director of operations who wanted to create a standardized and efficient fleet. This aircraft was selected for 2 critical advantages.
First, its wide-body cabin allows medical staff to stand upright and work effectively on the patient, with enough space for 2 intensive care units (ICUs). Second, it features a uniquely wide door with a fixed, integrated ramp, making the loading of patients safe and easy.
Rega purchased the aircraft empty and designed the entire interior in house with Swiss partner Aerolite. The result is a customized flying hospital that includes a crew bunk, a mobile compartment for stretcher maneuvering, 2 ICUs, passenger seats, and cargo space.
A structure built for excellence
Guiding Rega’s complex operation is a lean and specialized management board. The 7 members of the board are the CEO, a chief doctor, a CFO, the head of helicopter operations, the head of jet operations, the head of helicopter training, and the head of communication and patronage.
Leading the jet operation is Daniel Landert, a Challenger 650 captain and team manager with a unique background. An architect by education, Landert’s passion for aviation led him to a career that spans more than 25 years in the industry. Before joining Rega 4 years ago, he served as the COO for Edelweiss Air.
Now, as head of jet operation and a member of the management board at Rega, he splits his time flying the Challenger 650 himself and leading a team of 100 people. “I still fly 30 to 40% of the time,” he says. His role is a blend of hands-on aviation and high-level strategy, ensuring that the life-saving mission of the fixed-wing division is executed flawlessly.
Working as a pilot for Rega requires more than just exceptional flying skills. During the assessment process, Landert looks for a genuine interest in helping people. The close proximity to the patient in the compact cabin means that a passion for flying alone is not enough. The job demands high performance and flexibility.
While schedules are set months in advance, pilots on duty never know if they will be called away in the morning or evening, or to which corner of the world they may be sent.
This unpredictable, mission-driven environment fosters a culture where dedication and a sense of purpose are paramount. “During the low season, we have at least 10 pilots covering a shift,” explains Landert. “During the high season, we have 12 pilots on call, to cover different standby shifts over 24 hours.”
Senior Commander Marc Bühlmann embodies Rega’s hands-on expertise, having been with the organization since 2001. With more than 10,000 flight hours, his journey also began within the Swiss aviation ecosystem itself. After an apprenticeship with Swiss Air Navigation Services, Bühlmann transitioned to piloting, and a 2-year stint with an airline confirmed what he suspected – that what he desired most was a career with more purpose and variety.
Having previously filed flight plans for Rega for 6 years, he was intimately familiar with its unique global reach. And when the opportunity arose to join the team as a copilot, it was a natural and fulfilling decision he has never regretted.
Bühlmann, much like Landert, balances flying with significant management responsibilities. As a senior commander, he serves as a captain on the Challenger 650 fleet, which consumes about 60% of his time and sees him logging between 300 and 400 hours annually.
The other 40% Bühlmann dedicates to his role as the deputy nominated person for flight operations. In this capacity, he leads the pilot corps. This involves hiring new talent, conducting annual performance reviews, and working on the continuous refinement of standard operating procedures (SOPs).
Training for the unknown
To prepare for any eventuality, Rega’s pilots undergo a rigorous and unique training regimen. As a certified approved training organization, Rega conducts its own type rating certifications using its own simulator at the Lufthansa Aviation Training Center in Zürich. Rega employs a continuous cycle of check rides and refresher courses every 3 months.
This intensive schedule ensures pilots are constantly proficient in handling the challenging airports they may encounter, from the mountainous approach to INN (Innsbruck, Austria) to the high-altitude runways of KTM (Kathmandu, Nepal) and South America.
“There are no specialist pilots for specific regions,” remarks Landert. “Everyone is trained to be ready for any call that comes in.”
The crucial task of ensuring every aviator in Rega is prepared for the unknown falls to Captain & Nominated Person for Crew Training Jürg Niemeyer. For 2 decades, he was a helicopter pilot and instructor in the Swiss Air Force.
A key connection was forged when the agency purchased Rega’s former Challenger 604 jets, and Rega conducted the type rating training. This firsthand experience with the organization’s professionalism left a lasting impression, leading him to join Rega 3 years ago.
Despite his significant management duties, Niemeyer remains an active commander on the Challenger 650s, logging about 400 flight hours annually.
While his flight time is less than that of a full-time line pilot, it ensures that the head of training never loses touch with the cockpit, the nuances of the aircraft, and the dynamic pressures of a live medical mission – the real-world challenges that his training programs are designed to address.
Niemeyer oversees the entire training spectrum, from the initial type rating for new copilots to the recurrent training that keeps seasoned commanders sharp. A significant evolution under his purview has been the move to fully in-house training.
A few years ago, pilots traveled to Canada for simulator sessions. Today, Rega operates its own state-of-the-art Challenger 650 simulator. “Owning a simulator has given us a huge advantage,” says Niemeyer. “This allows for flexible scheduling, because pilots can be training one day and flying a mission the next.”
This control allows Niemeyer to implement a highly specialized curriculum. Moving beyond generic airline training, Rega’s program employs a modern, competence-based approach. It is meticulously designed around the unique airports and challenging scenarios that their pilots encounter globally.
Through repetitive drills in the simulator, crews practice steep approaches into mountain valleys, high-altitude takeoffs, and complex missed approaches, building the resilience needed to retrieve a patient safely from any corner of the world.
Medicine at 40,000 feet
Rega’s medical corps in the jet division is led by Nadine Nieuwkamp. As the head of doctors for the jet fleet, she embodies the unique fusion of high-altitude aviation and critical care that defines the organization’s air ambulance service. A consultant anesthesiologist, her own journey to Rega was a decade-long evolution from a 1-year rotation doctor to the leader of the medical wing – a path fueled by a unique background that included working as a flight attendant.
Nieuwkamp oversees a sophisticated and flexible medical workforce designed to handle fluctuating demand. Her department is composed of a core of 13 doctors who also work in Swiss hospitals, 5 rotation doctors on annual placements, and a pool of freelance consultants for peak seasons.
This structure allows Rega to scale its response, whether for a short-hop flight to Italy or a complex long-haul mission to southeast Asia. She works in close concert with the operations center, ensuring that the medical team composition is perfectly matched to the patient’s needs and the flight’s duration.
The doctors selected by Nieuwkamp are chosen as much for their character as for their credentials. While they must be experienced consultants in fields like anesthesiology or intensive care medicine, she places a premium on teamwork, diplomacy, and problem-solving skills.
The ability to function as a close-knit family with the pilots and nurses during days-long missions to remote locations is paramount. Once hired, their training is continuous, blending in-house sessions on the aircraft’s specialized equipment with the same aviation safety drills that the pilots undergo, ensuring they are as prepared for a ditching as they are for a medical emergency.
Scheduling this specialized team is a dynamic process. Medical crews are on standby, often receiving their mission briefings the evening before a flight. Their annual schedules are carefully managed to cover predictable high seasons, such as the summer exodus to European coasts and the winter flights to tropical destinations, mirroring the travel patterns of the Swiss public. This intricate dance between crew availability and mission demand ensures that, when a call comes in, a highly trained medical team is always ready to deploy.
Once airborne, Nieuwkamp’s team operates within a flying intensive care unit. The Challenger jets are permanently equipped with 2 ventilators, advanced patient monitors, an ultrasound machine, and lab equipment, allowing them to manage 2 critically ill patients simultaneously.
This robust capability transforms the cabin into a lifeline, ensuring that from a newborn in an incubator to an adult on life support, every patient receives hospital-level care from a dedicated team all the way home.
Unlocking the world for Rega
While Rega’s pilots and medical crews are the visible face of a mission, their ability to reach a patient in remote corners of the globe hinges on the behind-the-scenes work of a specialist – Nominated Person for Ground Ops Stefan Puskas.
With 14 years at Rega and a career deeply rooted in aviation operations, Puskas and his team are the critical link that transforms a mission order into an executable flight plan, ensuring the Challengers jets can land, refuel, and receive services anywhere in the world.
Puskas’s domain encompasses the entire logistical web of international flight. His team is responsible for securing overflight and landing permits and contracting ground handling and fuel providers such as World Fuel, AvFuel, and JetEx. But finding partners across some 400 different destinations each year is not a simple task – it involves a meticulously maintained global network of partners.
The selection of these partners is based on a rigorous trial process, where 24/7 availability and transparent pricing are as important as quality, given that missions are often organized with only 48 hours’ notice. Says Puskas, “We require our agents to be available any time. When we find someone who meets our requirements, we add them to our database and mark them as a preferred provider, and we’ll select them again for upcoming flights.”
This role demands seamless inter-department coordination. Puskas works closely with Niemeyer’s training department to organize training flights and identify airports that require specific qualifications. For active missions, his dispatchers work in tandem with duty officers from the pilot and medical corps to assign
the right crew, using integrated software systems to manage complex flight and duty time regulations. This synergy ensures that, when a call comes in, the entire organization moves as one.
Seeking the right candidate
A critical part of Bühlmann’s office work is recruiting the next generation of Rega pilots. While technical prerequisites are essential, he places a far greater emphasis on character and motivation. He often hears candidates recount a childhood dream of flying, but he is more impressed by those seeking a career that won’t become routine.
He looks for a genuine interest in medicine and the humanitarian mission, and a passion for the unpredictable nature of the work.
The ideal candidate is motivated by the prospect of flying to new destinations, handling unique challenges, and being part of a patient’s story, seeing the role not just as a job, but as a calling that requires flexibility and dedication.
Engineering independence
Rega boasts its own in-house maintenance department, design organization, and medical equipment production facility located under one roof at its Zürich headquarters. This allows them to not only perform routine maintenance but also design and certify specialized equipment, such as passenger isolation units for highly infectious diseases.
For heavier aircraft checks, like C-checks, the jets are sent back to Bombardier or other authorized service centers, but the core engineering capability remains a proud and crucial part of Rega’s identity.
Funded by the people, for the people
Perhaps the most distinctive aspect of Rega is its funding model. Its organizational form is that of a charitable foundation – entirely private and receiving no money from the state, even though Rega provides air rescue services throughout Switzerland and repatriates patients from all over the world. Instead, it is supported by 3.64 million patrons who contribute an annual fee.
This patronage covers the critical gap between what insurance companies pay and the actual cost of Rega’s high-standard operations.
Financially, about 40% of costs are covered by insurance payments, while the remaining 60% is supported by these donations. This massive public support grants Rega unparalleled financial independence and the freedom to make decisions based solely on what is best for the patient, ensuring that they can always answer the call.