Air Zermatt AG is a Swiss airline and flight school based in Zermatt. The company has an office at the

Aéroport de Sion Sion Airport (Military: LSMS) is the airport of the city of Sion, Switzerland, Sion, Switzerland and is located 2.5 km southwest of Sion city in the Rhone Valley. The airport opened in 1935. Airlines and destinations The following airline ...

in the canton of

Valais Valais ( , ; ), more formally, the Canton of Valais or Wallis, is one of the cantons of Switzerland, 26 cantons forming the Switzerland, Swiss Confederation. It is composed of thirteen districts and its capital and largest city is Sion, Switzer ...

and bases in

Gampel Gampel is a former municipality in the district of Leuk in the canton of Valais in Switzerland. Gampel should not be confused with the municipality Gampelen in the canton of Bern. It was an independent municipality until January 1, 2009, when ...

Raron Raron () is a municipality in the district of Raron in the canton of Valais in Switzerland. History Raron is first mentioned around 1101–1200 as ''Rarogni''. In 1146 it was mentioned as ''Rarun''. A settlement on the Heidnischbiel, a buria ...

and

Zermatt Zermatt (, ) is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the district of Visp (district), Visp in the German language, German-speaking section of the canton of Valais in Switzerland. It has a year-round population of about 5,800 and is cl ...

. It employs approximately 65 people.

History

Air Zermatt was founded in 1968. In 1973 Air Zermatt introduced medicalization in helicopter rescue. As the first rescue company in Switzerland, it employs permanent doctors and paramedics who accompany the helicopter crews on their rescue missions. In March 2020, Air Zermatt and Air-Glaciers announced a merger. Regional anchoring for both companies will remain and they will both have their own board of directors and CEO.

Fleet

The Air Zermatt fleet consists of the following aircraft (as of January 2020):

Media

From July to August 2006,

Schweizer Radio DRS Schweizer Radio: Radio der deutschen und rätoromanischen Schweiz (SR DRS; "Swiss Radio: Radio of the German and Romansh Switzerland") was a company of SRG SSR which operated the public German-language radio stations of Switzerland from 1931 u ...

made a documentary series called ''Die Bergretter - en route with Air Zermatt'' about the company and its employees. The seven-part series was broadcast from May 2007. A sequel followed in winter 2007/2008 which was shot in February 2007 as a "winter season". In 2010, Air Zermatt was part of a documentary by Swiss

Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen ("Swiss Radio and Television"), shortened to SRF, is a subsidiary of the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SRG SSR), operating in German-speaking Switzerland. SRF was created on 1 January 2011 through the merger of r ...

, titled ''The mountain rescuers in the Himalayas'' wherein the airline, in cooperation with

Fishtail Air Fishtail Air Pvt. Ltd., from 2018 to 2020 known as Summit Helicopters Pvt. Ltd., is a helicopter airline based at Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu, Nepal, operating chartered helicopter services. The company was established in 1997 un ...

, was establishing a mountaineering rescue station in

Lukla Lukla ( ) is a small town in the Khumbu Pasang Lhamu rural municipality of the Solukhumbu District in the Koshi Province of northeastern Nepal. Situated at above sea level, it is a popular place for visitors to the Himalayas near Mount Everest ...

. In January 2017, rescues from the recent past were shown on

ServusTV Servus TV is a TV station based in Wals-Siezenheim in the Austrian state of Salzburg and owned by Red Bull Media House GmbH, a subsidiary of Red Bull GmbH, which also publishes the magazine ''Servus in Stadt und Land''. The station is the succes ...

. Former Air Zermatt pilot Siegfried Stangier wrote a book entitled Rescuers who come from heaven (published in 1986), which gives an insight into Air Zermatt's activities from the 1970s to the mid-80s. The long-line rescue method he introduced in 1972 (a rope up to 220 meters long on the helicopter) saved the lives of countless people in need. In 2016, the series "The Horn" was released on

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

, which in addition to the way the company works, shed light on individual employees and assignments.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Airlines of Switzerland Helicopter airlines Air ambulance services in Switzerland Airlines established in 1968 1968 establishments in Switzerland Companies based in the canton of Valais Zermatt