URGENT APPEAL
Cambridge Airport will be closing
No base. No crew. No lifesaving care.
Cambridge Airport will be closing - and with it, the base our Cambridge crew call home. We now need to raise £8.2 million to relocate, build a new Cambridge Air Base and protect lifesaving care across the region.
We provide the very best care when the very worst happens, bringing intensive care directly to the scene of the incident in the fastest time possible. This service is only possible because of our two bases. However, the impending closure of Cambridge Airport – home of one of our two operating bases – threatens to cut our lifesaving service in half. With no base in Cambridgeshire, there is no East Anglian Air Ambulance crew in the centre of our region, no helicopter, and no lifesaving care.
We urgently need your help
Support Cambridge Air Base Appeal
Fly with us on every mission
To support our Cambridge air base appeal, we’re offering the chance for your name to fly with us on every mission.
For donations of £175 or over, we would like to celebrate your support by adding your name, or the name of someone special, to one of our helicopters for a two-year period. Your name will also be recorded at the new base itself.
Every name represents belief in this service, its future and the principle that no call for help should ever go unanswered.
The future of your lifesaving service
For the last 19 years, we have worked with the owners of Cambridge Airport, Marshall, to ensure that our helicopter, critical care car and crew can swiftly attend critical care emergencies across the region, and we are incredibly grateful to Marshall for their support during this time.
The base plans have been designed with a clear purpose: to enable our crews to respond quickly, by air and road, to take lifesaving skills and treatment directly to people in our region when the unthinkable happens – wherever they are.
Protect lifesaving care in your community
Every day, five people across Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Norfolk and Suffolk need our advanced critical care team.
From cardiac arrests to serious trauma, we respond to the worst 1% of 999 calls each day. Our helicopters and critical care cars bring the emergency department to the patient, so they receive the very best care when the very worst happens.
We operate from two bases – one in Norwich and one in Cambridge. Our Norwich base remains secure. But Cambridge Airport will be closing. And that means we need to relocate and build a new home for our Cambridgeshire crew.
This is about protecting the service our whole region depends on.
Transform critical care by making a major gift
Our urgent need for a new base for our Cambridge crew is also a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for people like you to make a difference to tens of thousands of lives for decades to come.
If you would like to discuss how you can create a lasting legacy of life-saving care, our Philanthropy team would be honoured to hear from you.
To start a conversation, please contact Conor at [email protected] or 07943 531 855.
Lives, families and communities at stake
This is our moment to come together
For 25 years, our communities have stood by our side.
Now we’re asking you to help secure what comes next.
Because protecting lifesaving care isn’t the responsibility of one county, one crew or one supporter.
It belongs to all of us.
Your questions answered
No. Our lifesaving service is not closing.
We operate from two bases – one in Norwich and one in Cambridge. Our Norwich base remains secure and fully operational.
The total cost of securing the land and creating the new Cambridge Air Base is £14 million.
Thanks to the generosity of supporters, major donors and charitable trusts, we have already secured a significant portion of this funding through a private fundraising phase.
We are now asking the public to help us raise £8.2 million to make the new base a reality.
Cambridge City Airport will be closing by 2030, which means we must relocate our Cambridge crew.
Building a new base takes time. We need to secure land, obtain planning permission and construct a purpose-built facility that allows our crews to respond safely and quickly.
Starting now helps ensure there is no interruption to the service our region depends on.
Our helicopters and critical care cars cover Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Norfolk and Suffolk.
Without a base in Cambridge, our Norwich-based crew would need to cover the entire region. That could mean:
- Hundreds of people waiting longer for help
- Over 600 fewer missions in Norfolk
- 250 fewer missions in Suffolk
- 62 fewer missions in Bedfordshire each year
Our two bases work as one team, allowing us to reach patients quickly wherever they are. When someone needs advanced critical care, having two bases isn’t a luxury – it’s vital.
If both helicopters were based in Norwich, large parts of the region would be much harder to reach.
Patients in Bedfordshire, western Cambridgeshire and south Suffolk could face significantly longer waits for help. Our critical care cars would also struggle to reach many patients outside Norfolk.
Having a base in Cambridge allows our teams to respond quickly by both air and road across the whole region.
Donations for our Cambridge Air Base Appeal will go to fund the land purchase, building and fitting out of the base, and its ongoing costs to deliver our Cambridge based lifesaving service.
If we raise more than is needed to build and run the new Cambridge Air Base, East Anglian Air Ambulance will use any additional donations received to fund our highest priorities – so your support continues to help us deliver the very best care when the very worst happens.
In the unlikely event that we are not able to use your donations towards the appeal’s intended purpose, building and fit out of the Cambridge Air Base, we will put your donations to an alternative use which could include; funding taskings by helicopter and Critical Care Car, investment in new equipment and other priority areas to deliver our lifesaving service. Where possible, we will contact you to let you know if we use your donations for a secondary purpose and you can request your donation is returned, if we are unable to deliver the outcomes of our appeal.
Following Charity Commission guidance restricted donations received via cash collections, proceeds from a lottery or competition or individual donations less than £120 do not require EAAA to return donations and donations can automatically be moved to fund our secondary purpose(s).
We are committed to securing a permanent solution for our Cambridgeshire crew.
Alongside public fundraising, we are exploring multiple funding streams including major gifts, charitable trusts, corporate partnerships, Gifts in Wills and community fundraising.
Public support will play a vital role in helping us reach the total needed to build the new base.
Other ways to support
Corporate fundraising
Big or small, your business can make a huge impact. We’ll get to know you, learn what matters most to your team, and find the best way to work together to support lifesaving care.
Leaving a gift in your Will
Life-changing decisions happen every day. With a very special gift in your Will, you can provide lifesaving care for future generations.