Los Angeles, United States to Australia, 24/7
Air Ambulance Los Angeles to Sydney
Bed-to-bed transfers with a medical team on board and ground ambulances at both ends. About 17 to 18 hours with one fuel stop in Honolulu.
Send patient details
We've filled in Los Angeles and Sydney; change them if needed. A coordinator calls you back to go through the rest.
- Distance
- About 12,060 km
- Flight time
- About 16 hours flying, 17 to 18 hours with the stop
- Typical aircraft
- Gulfstream G550
- Fuel stop?
- Yes. One stop, usually Honolulu.
Los Angeles (LAX) or Van Nuys (VNY) to Sydney (SYD). Times are planning estimates and change with winds, aircraft and the patient's needs.
What is involved in getting a patient from Los Angeles to Sydney?
Los Angeles to Sydney is about 12,000 kilometres across the Pacific. Airliners fly it nonstop, but no air ambulance does with a medical crew, equipment and safe fuel reserves on board.
This route is often driven by cost. US hospital bills can be extremely high, so insurers and families want to move a patient home as soon as it is safe.
How long is the flight, and does it need a fuel stop?
A Gulfstream G550 flies Los Angeles to Honolulu in about five hours, refuels, then flies about ten hours to Sydney. Total flying time is around sixteen hours, and seventeen to eighteen with the stop.
A flight that long goes beyond what one flight crew can legally fly, so we either carry extra pilots or change crews in Honolulu. The medical team is also sized for a long day, with enough staff to rest in turns.
Sydney is 17 to 19 hours ahead of Los Angeles, depending on daylight saving at each end. The patient leaves one day and arrives the day after next by the calendar.
Why do Australians need to come home from Los Angeles?
High hospital costs
A few days in a US intensive care unit can cost more than the air ambulance home, so moving a stable patient early often saves money.
Holiday and work travellers
Australians on holiday or working in the US who are injured in accidents or become seriously ill.
Heart problems and stroke
Cardiac events and strokes in older travellers visiting family or touring.
Patients waiting on insurer approval
Cases where an insurer has approved repatriation and wants a clear plan and quote quickly.
Can you arrange the ambulance and hospital at both ends?
Yes. The transfer is planned bed to bed, so the family doesn't have to organise anything at either end.
In Los Angeles
We work with hospitals across the Los Angeles area, such as Cedars-Sinai and Ronald Reagan UCLA, and across California and the western US. We request the discharge summary, imaging and medication list for the flight team.
Air ambulances often use Van Nuys, a business aviation airport in the San Fernando Valley, rather than LAX. A road ambulance takes the patient from the hospital to the aircraft, timed around the city's traffic.
In Sydney
In Sydney we arrange acceptance at a hospital that suits the patient's condition and where they live, before the aircraft leaves Los Angeles.
After the long flight, a road ambulance meets the aircraft at Sydney Airport. The flight team hands over in person, including the US imaging and a summary of how the patient managed the journey.
Does the patient need an air ambulance?
Scheduled nonstop flights from Los Angeles to Sydney take about fourteen to fifteen hours. For a stable patient, a nurse escort in business class, or an airline stretcher where available, costs much less than a jet. Airline medical clearance is required, and the long flight time is a factor in that decision.
What documents are needed from Los Angeles to Sydney?
For Los Angeles to Sydney we need the passport, the hospital's discharge summary and recent records, and the insurer's approval. US hospitals need the patient, or their legal representative, to sign a release before they can share records with us, so ask the hospital's case manager for the authorisation form on the first day.
US hospital bills are often the largest of any route, and insurers usually want itemised invoices rather than a single total. The case manager will also want the receiving Sydney doctor's name in writing before discharge. Keep copies of every bill and letter for later claims.
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