By Daily Press staff
The general manager of Santa Monica Saab last week handed over the keys to a new 9-7X to Jim Weaver, the executive director of Santa Monica-based nonprofit Angel Flight West, which arranges free air transportation for people who need medical treatment.
“We welcome Saab’s enthusiastic support of the mission of Angel Flight,” Weaver said. “Their partnership brings us new capabilities to serve those in need.”
Angel Flight West will have use of the vehicle for a year and it will be used by the group’s “Earth Angels” — non-pilot volunteers who meet patients at the airport, drive them to the hospital and then pick them up again for their return flight — as well as by staff when representing Angel Flight to the aviation and health-care communities.
The gift is one element of a new partnership between Saab Automobile USA and Angel Flight America, the umbrella organization that includes Angel Flight West. Angel Flight America flies more than 90 percent of all medical/emergency “mercy flights” in the United States. Volunteer pilots fly their own or rented aircraft and pay all the expenses associated with the flight. In 2005, Angel Flight West arranged more than 4,000 flights in the 13 Western states, including nearly 700 that had Santa Monica Airport as a departure or destination point.
In addition, Saab also presented the national organization with a $75,000 check in a ceremony prior to the opening of the New York International Auto Show in New York City.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on June 15, 2006. Read the original PDF.