Woodgate Aviation, which has a base at Ronaldsway Airport, has won the contract to provide the Isle of Man’s Air Ambulance service for the next three years.

The service starts this Saturday (April 1). It is for patients who need to be taken to the UK for urgent and specialist treatment and who cannot travel on scheduled air services.

Woodgate Aviation general manager, David Shaw, says the Isle of Man contract is a significant boost for the company which operates from its own hangar at Ronaldsway and has its headquarters at a new, purpose-built hangar at Belfast International Airport.

He said:’We look forward to the commencement of operations from April 1. We will have one aircraft dedicated to the Isle of Man service with additional back-up when required. Obviously, we will be working closely with Isle of Man health providers, but we’ll be ready to hit the ground running with a seamless handover and no disruption to service.’

There will be more on this story in the Manx Independent on Thursday.