With our fifth jet Learjet purchase, we are excited to share with you our recent story featured in Albuquerque Journal this past month. Here is what the Albuquerque Journal had to say:
When Denise Waye began her Albuquerque-based medical air transport company, AirCARE1, in 2004, she says there were plenty of people who didn’t take her seriously.
“One guy saw my blonde hair and said, ‘Don’t worry, when you fail, we’ll lease your jets from you,’” said Waye. “I just smiled and said, ‘Uh-huh.’”
Now the company serves about 360 patients a year and has an annual revenue north of $10 million. It employs 75 people including pilots, nurses, paramedics and mechanics. And last week, AirCARE1 purchased its fifth aircraft, a Learjet 60.
Waye wouldn’t disclose how much she paid for the used 1999 jet but said she “talked the price way down.” Industry magazine Business Jet Traveler estimates the average asking price for the aircraft is between $1 million and $3 million.
Waye, who went back to school to become a critical care nurse after raising five children, said she got into the business because she was interested in providing “a different approach to patient care,” even when those patients are flying. In addition to providing standard emergency medical services, staff also give patients noise-canceling headphones and hand massages with aromatherapy. Such gestures can make a big difference in the stress level of the patient, said Waye.
“Those types of things don’t cost that much more money for us,”she said. “It’s just about training and compassion.”
Flights start at around $10,000 and can go up to $50,000 and higher depending on the situation. Waye said payment is coordinated up front with the individual or insurance company to avoid situations where a patient is left with an enormous air ambulance bill.
Among AirCARE1’s clients: insurers like Blue Cross and Blue Shield and UnitedHealthcare, companies that coordinate air ambulances for cruise lines and hospitals that pay to have patients sent back to their home countries for treatment. In the winter, Waye said AirCARE1 frequently flies Canadians back to Canada after they travel to the United States and get injured or sick. The company also provides commercial medical escort services: in-flight medical supervision on commercial airlines. It has an additional base in the Phoenix area.
Asked about the company’s most memorable flights, Waye cited a 2015 trip to Peru to transport a young woman who had fallen four stories through a skylight at a hostel. The woman survived, and she and Waye met up in person last year. She says it’s those types of experiences that keep her committed to the business and thinking about the future of the company.
“You’ve got to always look forward to see where you’re going,” she said.
