It’s not a bird, nor a plane. And soon, it won’t be the telltale yellow and orange Flight for Life helicopter either – but a soaring pink and purple air ambulance.
The Flight for Life brand has been recognized by its sunset hues since it became the first air medical transport program in the country almost 53 years ago. CommonSpirit Health, which owns and operates the brand, announced Monday a new design for Flight for Life aircraft and ambulances which match the health system’s blushing color scheme.
Flight for Life provides medical air transport using seven ambulances, three airplanes and six helicopters. One helicopter is based at Mercy Hospital in Durango and a plane is based at the Durango – La Plata County Airport.
The aircraft regularly transports injured patients from remote locations to Mercy and moves patients from Mercy to other hospitals for higher levels of care. Flight for Life’s Durango-based crew completed 695 transports in the 2024 fiscal year.
Ambulances will receive a new coat of paint this spring and aircraft will be rebranded as they go in for maintenance, beginning later this fall.
The current color scheme has stayed constant since the first air medical helicopter took to the skies in 1972. Today, the aircraft are branded with the Flight for Life name and some bear the name of their home location. The new branding will boldy feature the Commonspirit name on the fuselage, along with the Flight for Life name in smaller text over a paint job that fades from pink at the nose of the aircraft to a purple at the tail.
“While colors may be changing, one thing will remain constant: the unwavering commitment of our Flight for Life crews to deliver the highest standard of care to our patients,” said CommonSpirit Mountain Region President Andrew Gaasch in a news release. “The exceptional reputation that exists today for Flight for Life, as one of the nation’s leading medical transport programs, comes because of Flight for Life’s caregivers, its crew, its support staff and its leaders, not because of the colors.”
A CommonSpirit spokesman declined to provide a cost estimate of the rebranding. One Texas-based maintenance company said that a paint job for a helicopter starts at about $65,000 and is necessary every 15 to 20 years.
“While our main objective is to align our aircraft with the new design, we will also be making some improvements to the fixed wing fuselage protection from ice and to repair and resurface any ‘dings’ on the airplanes and the helicopters,” spokesman Kevin Massey said in an email.
In 2022, rumors swirled that Centura, CommonSpirit’s corporate predecessor, would change Flight for Life’s colors. A petition to keep the yellow and orange gathered over 3,300 signatures and Centura ultimately said at the time the colors would remain.
Massey said CommonSpirit is reviewing what will happen with the currently orange Flight for Life special license plates, which are available following a $25 donation to the organization.
rschafir@durangoherald.com
