An air ambulance charity has announced the most ambitious fundraising campaign in its 20-year history to create two purpose-built airbases.
This month, the Air Ambulance Service launched its Big Bases Appeal, which seeks to raise £9.26m to “secure the future of lifesaving care for communities and children across the UK”.
The Air Ambulance Service, which recorded a total income of £35.9m in the year to December 2024 and receives no government or NHS funding, said its current bases “face long-term uncertainty and no longer meet the needs of modern emergency care”.
“We’re seeking £9.26m from public and philanthropic donations to deliver our first new base,” it said.
“The remaining costs will be covered by our reserves, allowing us to build sustainably while protecting our day-to-day lifesaving services.”
So far, the Big Bases Appeal has raised 3% of the £9.26m target.
Charity facing ‘significant operational challenges’
The Air Ambulance Service operates its Your Local Air Ambulance service across five counties in the Midlands, while its National Children’s Air Ambulance provides transfers for babies and children across the UK.
The charity said it must act now to deliver the first of the two airbases, the South Base, “due to significant operational challenges affecting our current locations”.
Its Warwickshire and Northamptonshire operations are currently based at Coventry Airport, which is due to close this year.
“The facilities there are no longer able to meet the needs of our crews or future service requirements,” the charity said.
Meanwhile, its National Children’s Air Ambulance base at London Oxford Airport faces ongoing operational restrictions and long-term uncertainty that limit future planning and growth.
“Alongside this, our existing facilities were never designed for the demands of modern pre-hospital critical care,” the charity said.
“This affects how we train, how we support crew wellbeing, and how we care for patients and families beyond the emergency itself.
“We’re increasingly adapting buildings not built for specialist clinical operations.
“Purpose-built airbases will allow us to design around clinical need, improving operational resilience, supporting our teams, and helping us respond faster when every second matters.”
The Air Ambulance Service said relocating its Your Local Air Ambulance and National Children’s Air Ambulance services to a single, modern airbase “will protect response times, provide the specialist facilities our teams need and deliver the best long-term value for our supporters”.
“Following delivery of the South Base, future phases of the Big Bases Appeal will focus on strengthening lifesaving coverage across Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Rutland through the development of a new North Base,” it added.
