Operators of Bermuda's only emergency aircraft say the Island needs a second full-time plane after a seriously ill patient had to wait overnight to receive treatment abroad.

A well-known philanthropist, David Barber, donated $2 million in 2005, in memory of his wife Mary, to buy an 11-seater jet for Bermuda Air Medivac Limited.

Before the initiative, those critically injured or seriously ill had to wait for air ambulances based in the United States and Canada to fly to Bermuda and transport them off the Island.

So when Eloise Bell, now vice president of Bermuda Air Medivac, had to wait 24 hours for her son, who was in the ICU, to be airlifted off the Island, she decided to begin an Island-based air ambulance through with the help of Mr. Barber.

Last Thursday a critically ill patient had to wait overnight to be transported abroad and Ms Bell said this could be avoided if the Island had a second plane.

She said: "We would like another airplane because we are having so many trips. We were not down for maintenance (on Thursday night), we were a pilot short because one had to leave.

"But we could have been down for another trip or for maintenance. We have to do these things so, sometimes they have to wait up to 24 hours.

"We have had 220 trips in two years and a quarter. There are five foreign air ambulances and those five have done 200 trips, so we have done half the trips."

The patient, who was injured on Thursday, managed to leave the Island via a foreign air ambulance, but the response time could have been reduced if a plane had been available on-Island.

Response times for the air ambulances based in the United States and Canada vary from six to 24 hours, but the Bermuda-based aircraft can respond within one to two hours.

The Cessna Citation S2, which was donated by Mr. Barber, has a range of 1,430 nautical miles and a normal cruising speed of 386 knots.

It is capable of reaching the east coast of the United States in one and half to two hours.

Plane and crew are all certified by the United States Federal Aviation Administration and use medical personnel, doctors and nurses from King Edward VII Memorial Hospital.

Ms Bell, also a registered nurse who works part-time at the KEMH, said even though they have been flying non-stop, they can still not fill the demand.

She believes that 50 percent of patients have to wait at least eight hours and those that get off the Island earlier can do so as part of the luck of the draw.

"I have seen people wait 24 hours, but at least 50 percent of the people have to wait more than eight hours for another air ambulance.

"That's totally terrible. We cannot afford to buy another plane, but one of the exempt companies could get a plane and use it when ours is down. Nobody has come forward."