While HeliJet, the company contracted to provide air ambulance services in some parts of British Columbia, cannot land their helicopters at certain hospitals, the province has contracted another helicopter company to pick up the slack.

Ascent Helicopters used their McDonnell Douglas 902 to airlift an injured tow truck driver from Highway 1 in Abbotsford to Royal Columbian Hospital in New Westminster on Saturday.

Ascent has worked with BC Emergency Health Services before, primarily in mass casualty incidents or to provide additional cover at times expected to be busy for air ambulances, such as long weekends.

"We don't have a full medical interior in this aircraft. We've just modified the seating configurations and different things,” said Trent Lemke, Ascent’s owner and one of its pilots.

The helicopter will be based out of Langley with an emergency medical crew and two pilots. They will be on standby from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. every day.

Last month, Transport Canada revoked landing privileges at seven hospitals for HeliJet because of performance requirements for the helipads that the federal agency says the Sikorsky S-76 aircraft used by HeliJet do not meet.

Since then, HeliJet has received temporary exemptions allowing it land at five of those airports, but the company still cannot land at Royal Columbian, Surrey Memorial at any time, and cannot land at Vancouver General at night.

The MD 902 used by Ascent is a smaller aircraft and can land at those hospitals but the company doesn’t have a night flight certificate so there are still no night landings allowed at any of the three hospitals where HeliJet still faces restrictions.

"We're continuing to work on getting an exemption for the night landings at Vancouver General,” said Linda Lupini, VP at BC Emergency Health Services. “For Royal Columbian and Surrey Memorial we're also looking at the possibility of a closer Helipad at night."

In the meantime, HeliJet has to land at nearby airports and transfer the patients to ground ambulances.

In the case of VGH, air ambulances can land at BC Children’s and Women’s hospitals landing pad and then continue by ground ambulance.

In the past, HeliJet has said it is confident it can work things out with Transport Canada.

"We can't count on that and it's very important for us to keep our patient care optimal so we're pursuing other avenues,” said Lupini.

HeliJet’s Transport Canada exemptions expire in January so a permanent solution is needed soon.