Phuket, Thailand to Australia, 24/7
Air Ambulance Phuket to Melbourne
Bed-to-bed transfers with a medical team on board and ground ambulances at both ends. About 8.5 hours nonstop by long-range jet. Mid-size jets stop twice.
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We've filled in Phuket and Melbourne; change them if needed. A coordinator calls you back to go through the rest.
- Distance
- About 7,010 km
- Flight time
- About 8.5 hours nonstop
- Typical aircraft
- Gulfstream G550
- Fuel stop?
- Not in a G550. A Hawker 800 would stop twice, including Darwin.
Phuket (HKT) to Melbourne Tullamarine (MEL). Times are planning estimates and change with winds, aircraft and the patient's needs.
What is involved in getting a patient from Phuket to Melbourne?
Phuket to Melbourne is about 7,000 kilometres, close to the distance from Melbourne to Hong Kong. There are no nonstop scheduled flights, which makes this a route where an air ambulance and a commercial escort can look very different in time and cost.
Many Victorians in Phuket hospitals are older travellers on a long stay, or families on a school-holiday trip. Our first job is to work out which option the patient actually needs.
How long is the flight, and does it need a fuel stop?
A Gulfstream G550 flies Phuket to Melbourne nonstop in about eight and a half hours. The patient clears the Australian border at Tullamarine.
A mid-size jet would stop twice, once in Indonesia and once in Darwin, and the trip would take more than eleven hours. We only plan it that way when a long-range aircraft isn't available in time.
Melbourne is three hours ahead of Phuket in winter and four hours ahead in daylight saving.
Why do Australians need to come home from Phuket?
Older travellers on long stays
Retirees who spend the Victorian winter in Phuket, and who have a fall, a stroke or a heart problem while there.
Holiday injuries
Scooter crashes, boat accidents on island tours and falls, often in younger travellers.
Diving incidents
Divers who have been diving around the Similan or Phi Phi islands and develop decompression illness may need to fly with a low cabin altitude.
Serious illness diagnosed overseas
A cancer or other serious diagnosis made in Phuket, where the patient wants treatment under their own specialists in Melbourne.
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 Phuket
We work with Bangkok Hospital Phuket, Phuket International Hospital, Vachira Phuket Hospital and others on the island, as well as hospitals in Krabi and Khao Lak, where patients may need a road transfer to Phuket airport.
A Thai ambulance takes the patient from the ward to the aircraft at Phuket International Airport. We confirm the treating doctor's fitness-to-fly report and any medication the crew needs to continue.
In Melbourne
The receiving hospital is chosen by clinical need and where the patient lives. That might be The Alfred, Royal Melbourne, Austin or Monash Medical Centre, a private hospital, or a regional Victorian hospital.
A road ambulance meets the aircraft at Tullamarine. The flight team hands over on the ward with the Thai records and a list of any medicines given during the flight.
Does the patient need an air ambulance?
With no nonstop scheduled flight, a commercial trip connects through Bangkok, Singapore or Kuala Lumpur and takes 11 hours or more. A stable patient can fly with a nurse escort, subject to medical clearance from each airline. For patients who can't manage a connection, an air ambulance is often the safer choice.
What documents are needed from Phuket to Melbourne?
For Phuket to Melbourne the paperwork has to be ready for a long day: passport, an English medical report, imaging, the medication list and the insurance claim number. If the aircraft stops in Darwin, the patient clears the Australian border there, so the passport travels with the patient, not in a family member's bag.
If the patient has been treated for decompression illness after diving, we ask for the hyperbaric treatment record, including the number and type of sessions. It affects how low the cabin needs to be kept and which Melbourne hospital should receive them.
FAQ