Think Like a Startup: Intensive Care in the Air
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APEX Insight: Facebook, Airbnb, Uber. These international companies, once startups, are transforming the way we travel. Airlines have taken note, fostering that entrepreneurial spirit in aviation. In this section of the multipart feature, we look at Lufthansa Technik’s business case for an ICU on an airplane.
If a medical emergency should happen in flight, all the essential equipment for treating a heart attack, low blood sugar and other illnesses is on hand: syringes, scissors, gloves, gauze, medications, saline solutions, resuscitation equipment and a stethoscope.
But with more travelers flying than ever, some of them elderly, the chance of a critical medical situation is increasing. “Longer flights, larger-capacity aircraft and more passengers with underlying health issues all contribute to a growing problem for airline companies,” writes Marc Weber Tobias, a Forbes contributor who investigated how airlines handle in-flight medical emergencies.
Originally designed for medevac (medical evacuation), Lufthansa Technik’s patient transport unit (PTU) is now available to intensive care patients who need to be transferred by air with their medical staff. In 2015, the PTU carried up to 100 patients. “More and more patients ask for this service, and for the airlines, it can be a business case,” says Gerolf Dietel, Marketing and Communication, Original Equipment Innovation, Lufthansa Technik.
“More and more patients ask for this service, and for the airlines, it can be a business case.” €” Gerolf Dietel, Lufthansa Technik
The PTU’s modular design (walls for privacy) and lightweight composite and aluminum materials make it suitable for aircraft. However, its space requirement – 16 economy seats (four seats in four rows in the middle section of the economy cabin) – comes with a price tag in the tens of thousands. Still, Dietel says the service is cheaper than a chartered aircraft flying with one patient, especially if one leg of the flight is empty.
Lufthansa Technik is hardly a debutante in the world of innovation. Founded in 1994, shortly before Lufthansa’s 40th anniversary, the original equipment manufacturer has designed a non-electric floor path marking system, an onboard dishwasher and a bird stand for falconers, among other items.
To foster creativity, Lufthansa Technik runs a cabin innovation center in Hamburg with modern equipment, including a chamber to test electromagnetic compatibility inside an airplane cabin. And Lufthansa itself has a tech-focused innovation hub in Berlin as well as its recently launched FlyingLab, which invites companies and passengers, to test their products on flying aircraft.
“Think Like a Startup” was originally published in the 7.1 February/March issue of APEX Experience magazine.