15 May 2012

Baby first to benefit from Angel Flight

1:31 pm on 15 May 2012

A two-week old baby has become the first patient to benefit from a new charity providing free flights for people too poor or too unwell to get to medical treatment.

Angel Flight New Zealand is set up to take people between Northland and Auckland for treatments including radiation therapy or hip replacements.

The Northland man who set up the charity, Lance Weller, says it has dozens of volunteers, including 17 pilots, and he is looking for more so it can expand to other parts of the country.

On Monday the weather was too rough for one of the charity's aircraft, so a baby with a cleft palate was taken from Kaitaia to Auckland courtesy of Air New Zealand.

An Angel Flight pilot is scheduled to take the child home on Wednesday.