Virgin Atlantic is upgrading its on-board passenger safety measures, having entered into a new partnership with CardioSecur, a medical technology provider from Germany. All the airline’s fleet are now equipped with the latest in mobile ECG technology, which CardioSecur says is the smallest kit on the market – and the lightest, at 50 grams.
Cardiovascular events are the single most common cause of flight diversions for medical reasons, and this technology can help ensure diversions are only made when truly necessary.
Virgin Atlantic crew have been trained in the use of the ECG kit, and they should find it relatively easy to use. The compact and intuitive CardioSecur is vectorcardiography based, performing a comprehensive 12-lead ECG with only four pickup points on the body. The results are then sent to a ground-based medical service via the aircraft’s inflight connectivity (wi-fi) system. The results are then analysed speed and critical feedback sent back to the aircraft detailing any medical steps that should be taken on the passenger, including whether a diversion is necessary or not.
Corneel Koster, Virgin Atlantic’s Chief customer and operations officer, said of the deployment: “Our work with CardioSecur underpins our continued commitment to customer health, which will always be our top priority. We were proud to be the first airline in the world to have a fully ECG-equipped fleet and we’ve continued to remain at the forefront of aviation medicine.”
Koster is referring to an initiative that began in the early 2000s, when Virgin Atlantic became the first airline in the world to have its entire fleet equipped with ECG technology. It remains the only UK airline to have ECG capability in the air, while other airlines, such as Lufthansa, are now flying similar kits.
“The upgrade to this new state-of-the-art mobile ECG capability on board all of our aircraft clearly demonstrates further leadership in shaping the future of customer health and I’m proud to be the first UK airline to offer CardioSecur’s new kit,” he added.
