Sunshine airline passengers support Air Ambulance

Passengers jetting off to the sunshine with Palmair this year will be helping to raise funds for the Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance (DSAA).

The Bournemouth-based airline, which sells more than 50,000 package holidays a year, is collecting unwanted or surplus coins of any denominations and giving them to the charity.

Palmair has chosen DSAA as one of its two charities of the year and is collecting coins in-flight on its new aircraft - a state-of-the-art Boeing 737-500 named The Spirit of Peter Bath, after the company’s late founder.

Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance fund-raising co-ordinator Annette Plaistow-Trapaud said: “We need to raise £1.4 million a year to keep our helicopter flying and we could not do it without the support of companies like Palmair.

“It works out at about £3,800 a day, all of which we have to raise ourselves because we do not receive any Government or Lottery funding.

“So we are extremely grateful to Palmair and all the many other people who support us with fund-raising every year.”

The Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance celebrates its 10th birthday on June 12 with a special event at its airbase in Henstridge.

The Air Ambulance has attended more than 7,000 missions since its launch in March, 2000, many of them life-saving.

More information about the Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance can be found by visiting www.dorsetandsomersetairambulance.org.uk or by emailing info@dorsetandsomersetairambulance.org.uk or calling 01823 669604.