Gama Aviation (GMA, Farnborough) has ordered three cargo-door equipped Beech (twin turboprop) King Air 360C turboprops from Textron Aviation to operate a newly awarded, ten-year air ambulance contract for Scottish Ambulance Service.
The three aircraft will be delivered in 2025 and will undergo extensive cabin modifications at the operator's Glasgow International and Bournemouth facilities. The upgrades will include installing advanced medical equipment with improved capabilities compared to the currently used aircraft, as well as new data communications and ground power units.
The new contract is due to start in the second half of 2026. It covers two King Air 360Cs, with the third used as a backup. Gama Aviation will also deploy two newly acquired H145 D3 Airbus Helicopters under the contract which will be based out of Glasgow, Aberdeen Dyce, and Inverness.
"This has always been a strategically important contract for us, and we are immensely proud and delighted to have been chosen again for this critical task," Gama Aviation Group CEO Marwan Khalek said.
Gama Aviation currently operates two 2005-vintage King Air 300Cs and two H145 D2s for the Scottish Ambulance Service. The current contract expired on May 31, 2024, but the operator said it was in talks with the authorities to extend it on an interim basis until the new one begins in 2026.
Gama Aviation's fleet is supplemented by two H135 T2+ operated by Babcock MCS Onshore for Scotland's Charity Air Ambulance. Those helicopters are available 12 hours a day out of Aberdeen and Perth Scone.
The operator's UK-registered fleet comprises one Bombardier Challenger 604, one G280, one Cessna Citation Mustang, seven B200s, four AW139s, eight AW169s, and eight H145s. It also operates other air ambulance services including Wales Air Ambulance, Air Ambulance Kent Surrey Sussex, Magpas Air Ambulance, and Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance. Its fleet also includes managed aircraft on private registers. Scotland runs the only wholly publicly-funded air ambulance service in the UK, providing medevac and air ambulance services to remote communities.
