COSTS are soaring for the high-flying medics who help save hundreds of lives every year but receive no direct Government funding.

The daily cost of keeping the Yorkshire Air Ambulance’s two helicopters in the air has leapt to £9,990 – and means it has to raise an extra £2,790 every 24 hours.

It is the equivalent of raising £3.6m a year for a charity which last year attended 933 incidents and airlifted 431 patients directly to hospital for urgent treatment, a figure that itself was up from 376 the previous year.

Chairman Peter Sunderland said: “For the last five to six years we have been able to fix our daily running costs at £7,200 each day, or the equivalent of £2.6m every year.

“However, we have not been immune to the challenging economic environment over the last few years and as a result, are seeing a major impact on our running costs.

“These are mainly increasing operational costs – primarily fuel, premises, maintenance and other on-costs associated with operating two very large helicopters.”

Each year both aircraft have to undergo mandatory servicing in line with regulations which grounds each helicopter for four to six weeks and the charity has to budget to hire in a relief aircraft during these periods.

The YAA is also having to plan for the future, particularly as a replacement for its oldest helicopter, G-SASH, will be necessary at some point.

“At present, to replace G-SASH, the charity would be looking at something in the region of £6m to £8m, which is a huge amount of money,” said Mr Sunderland.

“The increase in the annual income required reflects the cost of operational developments in recent years and also enables planned improvements to the service into the future.”

He added: “The charity is extremely aware that we would not be able to fund the running of the YAA without the help and support we receive.

“Every day we are overwhelmed by the amazing support that is shown towards the charity, from donations and fundraising events to touching stories of how we have rescued friends and family members.

“We are unable to convey just how grateful we are to all those people who support us.”

The YAA currently operates from two bases, the northernmost of which is at Topcliffe near Thirsk. Its other base, currently at Leeds Bradford Airport, is about to be switched to Nostell Priory near Wakefield.