Northland Emergency Services Trust
We are a charitable trust established to provide a dedicated emergency rescue helicopter service for the people of Northland. The Trust is supported by the generous contributions made by local sponsors, individuals, families, businesses and organisations.
A Board of Trustees governs NEST and oversees its strategic direction and management.
Paul Ahlers
Chairman
Tim Davidson
Trustee
Murray Broadbelt
Trustee
Brent Eastwood
Trustee
Pete Turnbull
Trustee
1988
The idea for the Northland Emergency Services Trust was conceived at a public meeting called at the request of the Auckland Surf Club in 1988. The meeting discussed the idea of having a rescue helicopter in Northland for three months over the summer period. Joyce Ryan, who was Whangarei’s mayor at the time, asked those present if they thought the money that was being asked for, to run the service for three months, seemed fair. While costs exceeded those envisaged in 1988, NEST believes its service has far exceeded Northlanders’ expectations. It transported its first patient on Tuesday 15 November 1988.
The Bell Jet Ranger
When NEST began, its emergency helicopter was a Bell Jet Ranger – a basic single pilot, one engine and one patient rescue helicopter. It's the most popular helicopter ever built with over 6000 flying worldwide, and has one of the best safety records of any helicopter on the market.
The latest report from Chairman, Paul Ahlers
CHAIRMAN’S REPORT
The latest report from Chairman, Paul Ahlers
The 2024-25 financial year has been another busy one for us. Flight hours have increased slightly with 1105 missions from the Whangarei base in the 12 months to the end of March 2025.
Our joint venture, Northern Rescue continues to go from strength to strength, and continues to maintain a focus on operational capability, safety and resilience.
A number of significant projects have been completed over the last 12 months.
- New Helicopters : Northern Rescue has purchased and leased three new AW169 helicopters which will be online by the end of the third quarter in 2025. This will fulfill the fleet strategy of having five modern rescue helicopters of the same type servicing the wider Northern region.
- New Flight Simulator : a new flight simulator for the AW169’s has been purchased from Spain. The new simulator will arrive in late 2025, and offers our pilots a valuable resource for training on the new aircraft.
- Asset Consolidation : Trust assets (eg. helicopters) have been consolidated into the Northern Rescue JV, which allows for better day to day management of the assets whilst preserving the investment for Northland.
- Base Relocation : The existing base at Kensington is no longer fit for purpose, and operations will be relocated to Onerahi Airport on a temporary basis at this stage. We are hopeful that an alternative permanent base location will be announced soon.
- Engineering : A lot of work has gone into growing the in house engineering capabilities that enable Northern Rescue to perform the maintenance work on the helicopters. This delivers better availability and cost efficiencies.
The Government contract for air ambulance services is due to be tendered in late 2026, so Northern Rescue is currently preparing to present a comprehensive submission on how we can deliver the optimum outcomes for patients in our sector.
Like most other ambulance operators, we receive partial funding from central government which covers approximately 80% of our total operating costs. The balance is covered by the community through sponsorship and donations. We are extremely grateful for this support and in particular our continued thanks go to our key sponsors – Northland Regional Council, Northpower, Top Energy and the Oxford Trust. Without the support of our sponsors and the Northland public we would simply be unable to provide the service.
On behalf of the board I would like to take this opportunity to thank my fellow Board members, our dedicated Ops team, engineering, administration staff, hospital staff and other emergency workers who all work tirelessly in support of your rescue helicopter service.
Paul Ahlers
Chairman
Following high standards of corporate governance
The Trustees of NEST acknowledge and support the need for the highest standards of corporate governance, practice and ethical conduct by all of our Trustees and employees of the Trust. A copy of relevant documents from our Governance Manual can be viewed below.
A copy of our last set of audited financial statements is available for viewing on the Charities Commission website.
