Help from the air

Saving lives can only work as a team

On average over the year, Christophorus was called out six times a day in Burgenland.(Bild: ÖAMTC/Postl)

A record of success: last year, the ÖAMTC air rescue service took off 22,203 times in Austria and 2302 times in Burgenland. Thousands of lives were saved by the "Yellow Angels".

The year 2024 marked a record number of missions for the ÖAMTC air rescue service:

Austria-wide, the 18 Christophorus crews were alerted to 22,203 rescue flights - an average of 61 per day. In 2023, the figure was 20,823; in the previous record year of 2022, the "Yellow Angels" took off 21,934 times.

"This new record once again underlines the fact that ÖAMTC Air Rescue is an indispensable part of the rescue service throughout Austria," says Managing Director Marco Trefanitz. "Just think of the flood disaster in autumn 2024, during which we were deployed with several helicopters at the same time."

Six missions per day in Burgenland
A new era began for air rescue in Burgenland on April 1st last year. With the Christophorus 18, a second ÖAMTC emergency helicopter is now available to provide medical care to the population. From its interim base in Wiener Neustadt, its crews took off on 1020 missions, most of them in Burgenland. Christophorus 16, based in Oberwart, was alerted 1282 times.

In 2024, the "Yellow Angels" saved thousands of lives, not least thanks to first-class first aid.(Bild: P. Huber)

"On average, our two helicopters were on six missions every day," says Trefanitz. "The fact that so many lives were saved is thanks to the commitment of our teams in the air and on the ground, but also to our partners, including the Red Cross. Saving lives is and remains teamwork!"

Heart problems and strokes in first place
More than half of all missions (1303) in Burgenland were flown for internal and neurological emergencies, including acute heart conditions and strokes. In 440 cases, the cause was accidents that occurred at work, at school, during leisure time or at home. The crew had comparatively few call-outs due to traffic accidents (103).