At the beginning, the base was little more than a hut; the rescue helicopter, a Bell 206 Jet Ranger, stood outside in the open air. This was soon replaced by a Bölkow BO 105 CBS, which offered more room and was Rega’s first twin-engine helicopter. From 1983, an Alouette III was also stationed at the Berne base. This helicopter served as a reserve machine for French-speaking Switzerland and was mainly used to perform hoist operations. In 1980, the Berne base carried out its first road rescue in Canton Berne. Since 1984, the Inselspital University Hospital in Berne has been contracted to provide the physicians for Rega’s stand-by medical team.

New building, new helicopter

In autumn 1991, the Rega crew took up residence at the new Berne base. Since then, the hangar, offices and living quarters have been united under one roof. The new building was awarded an environmental award by the airport municipality of Belp for, among other things, its heat pump plant and the landscaping of its flat roof. In 1995, the two helicopters were replaced by an Agusta A 109 K2. Between 2003 and 2018, the Berne base operated an EC 145 helicopter.

Airbus H145 in Bern

In October 2018, a new Airbus H145 D2 helicopter entered service at the Bern base, replacing the EC 145, which had proven to be a reliable and versatile rescue helicopter for around 15 years. A few years later, as part of the transition to a single-type fleet, the Bern crew was able to put its new Airbus H145 D3 rescue helicopter – the modern successor to the previous helicopter – into operation.

Typical lowland base

Rega’s Berne base is a lowland base, which accounts for the high proportion of missions relating to road accidents. The number of primary missions (accidents) is more or less on a par with the amount of secondary missions (interhospital transfers). These days, the Berne crew fly around 1,100 missions a year, many of which take them to the Inselspital University Hospital.