Heart rushed to transplant op on scheduled flight

A heart was flown from Kerry to Dublin yesterday on board a scheduled Aer Arann flight as bad weather scuppered plans by the air corps to transport the organ for a lifesaving operation.

In a race against time, the heart was brought from Tralee General Hospital to Farranfore Airport and onto the Aer Arann plane bound for Dublin.

The plane waited on the tarmac at Farranfore for almost an hour beyond the scheduled 7.30am departure time, and on landing at Dublin Airport, the heart was transported to the Mater Hospital with a Garda escort.

It is understood that the heart made it to the hospital in time for the transplant to be carried out.

Air transport of organs is usually carried out by the air corps or the coast guard, but very high crosswinds and turbulence meant those organising the transfer had to explore using the commercial flight route.

It is understood that Cork and Limerick had also been considered as possible take-off points for the air corps to collect the heart, but those locations were also affected by bad weather and turbulence.

The air corps typically completes more than 100 standard air ambulance transfers a year and a defence forces spokesman said: “The air corps duty officer received a query [on Sunday night] investigating the possibility of an air ambulance mission from a regional location.

“In line with standard procedures, air corps stand-by crews were consulted. However, the severe weather conditions, including turbulence and high crosswinds, made any mission impossible overnight.”

The Kerry-Dublin route is one of two public service obligation routes in Ireland, meaning they are partly subsidised. It is understood that those arrangements are up for review shortly.