Key Stats: CY25
- 8,838 people helped – up 4.2% on 2024
- A patient helped every 59 minutes
- Helicopter flying hours increased 10% to 6,116 hours
- Toowoomba was the busiest regional base helping 960 people
- Total helicopter missions increased 9.1% to 3,857 (includes training)
- Townsville jet helped 598 people – 23% higher
- Increase in search and rescues at 56 – up 9.8%
An investment in advanced AW139 rescue helicopters, world-class training and new bases has boosted LifeFlight retrievals to a new record in 2025.
New data released this week shows the number of patients helped by LifeFlight increased by 4.2 per cent to 8,838 people.
LifeFlight’s helicopter crews, operating from bases on the Sunshine Coast, Bundaberg, Mount Isa, Toowoomba, Roma, and Brisbane, completed 3,857 missions – 9 per cent higher than the previous year.
LifeFlight helicopters are tasked by Retrieval Services Queensland as part of a 10-year service agreement with the Queensland Government.
August was again the busiest month with 890 people helped by LifeFlight rescue crews and doctors working across other service providers including QGAir, CapRescue, CQRescue and the Royal Flying Doctor Service (Queensland section).
Toowoomba remained the busiest rotary wing base airlifting 960 people and included the winch of two mountain climbers to safety from Mt Maroon after they became stranded and unable to descend safely.
Other regional bases continued to see increased patient numbers with Sunshine Coast surging 18 per cent to 672 people, and Bundaberg and Mount Isa rising 34 per cent and 37 per cent respectively.
Overall, people helped with trauma rose 8 per cent to 1,740, cardiac cases increased one per cent to 1,122 and animal-related airlifts jumped 2.9 per cent to 179.
Search and rescues were up almost 10 per cent, while the number of people airlifted after motor vehicle accidents fell 4.5 per cent to 799.
The delivery of new state-of-the-art helicopters to Toowoomba, Sunshine Coast, Bundaberg and Mount Isa expanded LifeFlight’s capability, enabling crews to go farther and complete missions faster.
LifeFlight also progressed new base builds on the Sunshine Coast and in Mount Isa with the Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS) (Queensland section) with both bases due to open this year.
In March LifeFlight announced a new partnership with Italian helicopter manufacturer Leonardo to provide new aircraft, while injecting significant investment into state-of-the-art training and engineering facilities in Queensland.
LifeFlight Acting Chief Operating Officer Pete Elliott, said the back-to-back record years of 2024 and 2025 showed the organisation’s drive to deliver improved technology and aeromedical capabilities was working.
“The new AW139 helicopters, equipment and advanced training programs mean we’re able to help more Queenslanders with world-class healthcare,” Mr Elliott said.
“Mount Isa is a prime example of the impact of this new resource with the AW139 able to travel longer distances to reach patients across the North West and beyond that was not previously possible without refueling.
“The advanced helicopters are a result of our 10-year service agreement with the Queensland Government, which brings us closer to our goal of bringing equity of healthcare to Queenslanders no matter where they live.”
Mr Elliott said LifeFlight had cemented new partnerships during the year, such as with AW139 manufacturer Leonardo, to ensure it remained at the forefront of aeromedical training and innovation.
“Preparedness is key for our crews because they do not know what will be thrown at them each day. It can range from winching hikers off a mountain in the southeast through to search and rescue missions for missing people in Northern Queensland,” he said.
“That’s why our investment in technology and training, alongside our partners, is so important towards delivering life-saving healthcare.”
He said LifeFlight was also ramping up the rollout of its free First Minutes Matter emergency trauma training workshops throughout the state.
Nearly 1200 people participated in First Minutes Matter in 2025 across 150 workshops.
“These are vital for building on community resilience by teaching people practical skills to manage life-threatening events such as car crashes, farming accidents, stroke and snake bites.”
Notable rescue missions in 2025 included:
- The Sunshine Coast-based crew winched a lost hiker to safety after he was stranded on a mountain in January for two nights and three days.
- Earlier that month the Sunshine Coast crew winched a man to safety after he fell 20 metres into the ocean from a cliff in the Noosa region.
- In February the Bundaberg crew airlifted a man to hospital after he crashed his light plane following engine failure.
- In April a special mission helicopter on standby for flood rescues airlifted a man to hospital after he was lost for two days in the outback when his 4WD became bogged in floodwaters.
- In June the Roma-based LifeFlight Surat Gas Aeromedical Service (SGAS) helicopter crew airlifted a man trapped in a silo after he was freed following a five-hour extraction by Queensland Fire Department (QFD) firefighters.
- Also in June, the Toowoomba crew winched two mountain climbers to safety from Mt Maroon after they became stranded and unable to descend safely.
- In September, the crew in Mount Isa rescued a man who crashed a helicopter while mustering northeast of Mount Isa.
- The following month, the Sunshine Coast crew winched a bushwalker from the Glass House Mountains National Park after she slipped and fell 10 metres while going up a rocky ledge.
- In November the Bundaberg crew winched a teenager off Mount Walsh after he fell 80 metres and used his AirPods to contact his family.
LifeFlight Medical Director Dr Jeff Hooper, said LifeFlight made great strides in 2025 in recruiting new critical care doctors, conducting clinical research, and using real-life rescues to inform community training.
“Because we are a vertically integrated organisation with our own fleet, doctors, nurses and paramedics, we can directly feed their front-line experiences into our research and First Minutes Matter training,” Dr Hooper said.
“We know clinical practice is constantly changing and evolving so we need to make sure we are at the forefront of the latest innovations.”
During the year, LifeFlight’s new medical staff underwent intensive aeromedical training at the LifeFlight Training Academy, including Helicopter Underwater Escape Training (HUET), rescue winching and clinical scenario training.
“Our crews administer prehospital and retrieval medicine under highly stressful conditions, so they have to be ready for any eventuality, and this is what the training equips them to do,” Dr Hooper said.
“It is why our aircraft are fitted out as mobile intensive care units with advanced medical equipment to care for patients whether we are operating 35,000 feet above the ground in a Challenger jet, or in the back of a helicopter.
“This aeromedical intervention is vitally important as it can be the difference between life and death.”
Crews support search and rescue efforts across 53 million square kilometres of land and sea for the Australian Maritime Safety Authority.
Complementing the helicopter network, four Challenger 604 jets are rotated through the Brisbane, Townsville and Singapore bases.
The jet crews helped 1,014 people in 2025 with Townsville recording a 22 per cent increase in people helped to 598.
The Brisbane base helped 1,561 people across the fixed and rotary wing fleets.
LifeFlight’s 24/7 Communications, Coordination, and Control Centre acts as the hub of all operations and is run by a dedicated team of aviation professionals who handle thousands of calls and messages to coordinate complex aeromedical services.
As in previous years, much of LifeFlight’s aeromedical work involved Inter-Facility Transfers (IFT) or moving patients between medical facilities. This ensures all communities have equal access to the best possible healthcare, no matter where they live.
Every 59 minutes, LifeFlight aircraft rescue a seriously ill or injured patient, flying from 10 base locations across the Asia Pacific.
Photo: Credit: WadeBrennanPicsÂ
