A major fundraising drive is underway to secure the final £400,000 needed to equip a purpose-built, £9 million permanent home for the Yorkshire Air Ambulance's northern operations.
Critical pre-hospital care across North and East Yorkshire will soon be coordinated from a new £9 million permanent airbase, provided a final funding gap can be closed.
A major fundraising campaign has been launched to raise £400,000 to complete and equip a purpose-built aviation facility at Skipton Bridge, near Thirsk. The site will replace rented facilities at RAF Topcliffe, where northern operations have been based since 2012.
Construction on the new Northern Airbase, being built by Yorkshire-based contractor HACS, is nearing completion with the opening scheduled for late 2026. The charity has already secured more than 95 per cent of the required funding for the project.
Yorkshire Air Ambulance has committed £5 million of its own funds to the build, while £3.6 million of a £4 million fundraising target has been successfully raised. Charity officials say this financial backing has come from a wide range of individuals, businesses, trusts, major donors, grant funders, and local communities.
The remaining £400,000 generated by the 'Big Airbase Build' campaign will pay for essential interior equipment, fittings, and infrastructure to get the spaces ready for immediate use. This includes workstations, screens, communications equipment, and IT networks for mission planning areas.
The money will also fund clinical storage and preparation facilities, furniture and furnishings for crew accommodation, and specialist training and simulation equipment.
Once fully operational, the bespoke base will feature a hangar and helipad tailored to the needs of operational teams. It will also house a gym, meeting rooms, offices, wellbeing spaces, and areas to host future supporter events, complementing the charity's existing southern airbase at Nostell, near Wakefield.
Maintaining rapid response times remains a priority for the region. During 2025/26, the charity treated 1,312 patients, with 647 of those located in North and East Yorkshire. The strategic location of the new Northern Airbase is deemed essential by the charity to maintain this coverage, ensuring crews can continue reaching 90 per cent of Yorkshire's population within a 20-minute flight.
Operating as an independent charity, the service receives no direct day-to-day government or National Health Service funding, relying entirely on public donations to deliver advanced pre-hospital critical care.
Kathryn Marsden OBE, Chief Executive Officer of Yorkshire Air Ambulance, said:
"This is about much more than completing a building. It is about creating the right environment for our crews to deliver the highest standard of critical care, now and for the future, and securing a permanent home for our northern operations. The new airbase will give us the space, infrastructure and facilities to support our teams properly, develop our service and continue responding to patients across a vast and diverse region. It is a significant investment in the future of Yorkshire Air Ambulance and in the communities who rely on us.
We are now within touching distance of making that vision a reality, and this final £400,000 matters. I would ask anyone who has supported Yorkshire Air Ambulance, benefited from our service or simply wants to help protect it for the future to consider being part of this final push. When its doors open, it will belong to everyone who helped make it possible."
Supporters are being urged to visit the charity's website to help close the final funding gap and complete the build.
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