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| Founded | 1952 | ||||||
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| Fleet size | 21 | ||||||
| Headquarters | Zürich,Switzerland | ||||||
| Website | www.rega.ch | ||||||
Swiss Air-Rescue (German:Schweizerische Rettungsflugwacht, French:Garde aérienne suisse de sauvetage, Italian:Guardia aerea svizzera di soccorso,Rega) is a private, non-profit airrescue service that provides emergency medical assistance inSwitzerland andLiechtenstein.[3][4] Rega was founded on 27 April 1952 by Rudolf Bucher, who believed that the Swiss rescue service needed a specialized air branch.[5] Rega mainly assists in mountain rescues, but also operates in other terrains when necessary, especially in life-threatening emergencies. Rega also provides a repatriation and medical advice service for members who experience a medical emergency while abroad and local treatment is not available.
Rega also aids alpine farmers during the summer months in rescuing livestock and retrieving dead animals.
As a non-profit foundation, Rega does not receive financial assistance from any government. They are quite unusual within Europe, with the majority of their costs paid through the annual fees of private contributors (As of 2016: 3.2 million patrons, 38% of the population). In exchange, Rega does not charge its contributors for its search, rescue and repatriation costs. One other rare aspect of Rega is that people in distress can call for a helicopter rescue directly (phone number 1414). In case of insufficient mobile phone coverage,alpinists can also use emergency radio telephone (161.3 MHz).
The head office, the Rega Centre, (home to the Rega operations center where all missions are coordinated) is a hangar located at the northeast section ofZurich Airport within the municipality ofKloten;[6] the hangar has direct access to the runways of the airport.[7] All Rega helicopters carry a crew of three: a pilot, an emergency physician, and a paramedic who is also trained to assist the pilot for radio communication, navigation, terrain/object avoidance, and winch operations. In some situations, such as evacuatingcable cars or retrieving injured climbers from a rock face, the crew also consists of a specialist trained by theSwiss Alpine Club.
In theCanton of Valais, helicopter search and rescue is carried out byAir Glaciers andAir Zermatt.
In 2025, Rega has began a partnership with Leon Software, an aviation management software.[8]
The name Rega was created by combining letters from the name "Swiss Air Rescue Guard" as it was written inGerman (Schweizerische Rettungsflugwacht),French (Garde Aérienne Suisse de Sauvetage), andItalian (Guardia Aerea Svizzera di Soccorso). The decision to change the name was made in 1979, to create a uniform and more concise name for speakers of the three languages.[9]
Ursula Bühler Hedinger, first woman from Switzerland to hold a license to fly ajet and the first Swiss femaleflight instructor flew for REGA for over 25 years.[10]
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The whole fleet will be replaced by the end of 2026. The current fleet has 19 helicopters.[11]
21 H145 D3 (5-blade rotor)
The whole fleet is made of:
Additionally, Rega has purchased a full-flight simulator to train pilots for its Bombardier Challenger 650 fleet.[25]
Rega work closely with several organizations and emergency services including the police, fire and ambulance services. It assists in rescue efforts related to road accidents with theTouring Club Suisse TCS. For alpine search, rescue and recovery operations, Rega works closely with rescue branch of theSwiss Alpine Club. For larger operations, Rega may request additional helicopters from theFOCA or theSwiss Accident Investigation Board (SAIB, German acronym SUST) (formerlyAircraft Accident Investigation Bureau).
Rega is a partner of theSwiss Air Force, which supports Rega with helicopters and personnel when necessary. For search-and-rescue flights in difficult conditions, the Air Force has aFLIR-equipped helicopter (usuallyEurocopter AS332 Super Puma or Cougar) on call. The Air Force continually monitors the airspace and directs emergency signals immediately to Rega. Aircraft equipment of the Swiss Air Force is used to gain a rapid and precise location of an emergency signal that is transmitted to the Rega helicopter early in an emergency mission. Rega also has access to the Air Force radio system for comprehensive radio coverage, which has a larger coverage area than civil aviation radio.
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