{"id":512667,"date":"2026-07-06T16:50:19","date_gmt":"2026-07-06T16:50:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/512667\/"},"modified":"2026-07-06T16:50:19","modified_gmt":"2026-07-06T16:50:19","slug":"northland-westpac-rescue-helicopters-to-replace-ageing-sikorskys","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/512667\/","title":{"rendered":"Northland Westpac Rescue Helicopters to replace ageing Sikorskys"},"content":{"rendered":"

The new helicopters would improve operational efficiency by allowing greater flexibility between bases while providing enhanced capabilities for crews delivering treatment in the air, he said.<\/p>\n

Paul Ahlers, the Northland Emergency Services Trust chairman and Northern Rescue<\/a> director, said Northern Rescue would continue operating with the same highly trained pilots, paramedics and air crew.<\/p>\n

Northern Rescue completed around 2087 missions in Northland, Auckland, Coromandel, and other regions last year. <\/p>\n

In Northland alone, the service responded to 134 medical emergencies, 110 accidents, 418 inter-hospital transfers and 10 search and rescue operations between July 1, 2025, and May 31, 2026.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe older Northern Rescue helicopters will soon be retired and replaced by AW169 helicopters. Photo \/ Sarah Curtis<\/p>\n

MacPherson said every mission involved someone\u2019s partner, parent, child, friend or loved one.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom serious accidents, medical emergencies, search and rescue incidents or winch rescues at sea and disaster response, our pilots, paramedics, and engineers are on call 24\/7 \u2013 ready to act with urgency, skill, and compassion.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said Northlanders could expect to see more of the distinctive red-and-yellow helicopters in the skies in coming months.<\/p>\n

Westpac managing director of product, sustainability and marketing Sarah Hearn said the rescue helicopter crews did an outstanding job every day, often in difficult conditions.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re immensely proud of our existing longstanding rescue helicopter partnership and are delighted to be extending it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Westpac joins longstanding sponsors Northpower and Top Energy.<\/p>\n

Brodie Stone covers crime and emergency for the Northern Advocate. She has spent most of her life in Whang\u0101rei and is passionate about delving into issues that matter to Northlanders and beyond.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The new helicopters would improve operational efficiency by allowing greater flexibility between bases while providing enhanced capabilities for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":512668,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[2840,10791,11428,28246,13982,4190,15974,28828,17240,27513,111,43,139,1067,69,17177,4482,8527,1321,255000,61,17239],"class_list":["post-512667","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-across","tag-ageing","tag-ambulance","tag-begin","tag-continues","tag-demand","tag-emergency","tag-fleet","tag-grow","tag-helicopters","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-northland","tag-nz","tag-operating","tag-replace","tag-rescue","tag-services","tag-sikorskys","tag-to","tag-westpac"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/512667","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=512667"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/512667\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/512668"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=512667"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=512667"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=512667"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}