Soaring fuel costs threaten Portugal's medical helicopter service
The company operating Portugal's medical emergency helicopters has warned that sustainability of the service is at risk due to fuel price increases the contract did not anticipate. Gulf Med Aviation Services, which runs the four-helicopter fleet for the Instituto Nacional de Emergência Médica (INEM), says it is absorbing costs with no compensation mechanism in place.
80% fuel price increase since contract start
The price of Jet A1 aviation fuel now stands at €1.90 per litre. When Gulf Med submitted its bid for the public tender in December 2024, the price was €1.04. By the time operations began in July 2025, it had already risen to €1.34. The 80% increase since then represents a cost surge the company says it could not have predicted.
Simon J Camilleri, the chief executive of Gulf Med Aviation Services, told the Lusa news agency that the €77.5 million contract contains no price revision mechanism. The company flagged this gap to INEM from the outset and renewed its warnings when fuel prices surged.
"We are absorbing costs that no one could foresee when the contract was signed," Camilleri said. He argues that the situation represents an abnormal and unpredictable change in circumstances that justifies restoring the contract's financial balance.
Night flights drive costs higher
The service is not only paying more for fuel — it is flying far more than anticipated. In the first eight months of this year, the four helicopters logged 1,285 flight hours, nearly double the 715 hours recorded from July 2025. Missions more than doubled to 980 operations through August, compared with 454 in all of last year.
Night operations have grown disproportionately. The service flew 232 night missions in the first eight months of 2026, up from just 35 in the previous year. Night flying requires refuelling during hours subject to extraordinary and higher tax rates, Camilleri explained.
The helicopter based in Évora has been the busiest, recording 420 flight hours this year against 250 in 2025.
635 patients transported this year
The fleet has carried 635 patients in the first eight months of 2026, more than double the 308 transported in the previous year. The helicopters operate from four bases — Évora, Loulé, Macedo de Cavaleiros and Viseu — with crews stationed away from their homes around the clock.
Camilleri noted that the cost burden extends beyond aviation fuel. It affects support vehicles, crew travel and the logistics of keeping teams permanently at four bases.
Company seeks inclusion in emergency support schemes
Gulf Med says it should have been included in the public support given to critical rescue sectors. Firefighter associations and other emergency services have received state aid to offset fuel price increases, but medical air transport has not.
"It is the only rescue service in this situation and it is the one that consumes the most fuel per hour of operation," Camilleri said.
The company has guaranteed it will make no adjustment that compromises the service. However, it warned that medical helicopters consume far more fuel per hour than any land-based rescue vehicle and that there is no way to reduce activity without putting lives at risk.
Contract history
Gulf Med initially operated the service under a direct adjustment contract with INEM worth approximately €4 million, covering July to October 2025. The current contract, worth €77.5 million, resulted from an international public tender and provides for a four-aircraft fleet available 24 hours a day.
The company says the lack of a price revision clause in such a long-term contract is unusual. Most public contracts of shorter duration include adjustment mechanisms.
No government response to the company's request was reported in the source material.
