First Aid Kit and Emergency Medical Kit Onboard Commercial Aircraft: A Comparative Study of American, European, Indian, Indonesian, Emirati, and Canadian Civil Aviation Regulations

There were 3.696 billion air passengers worldwide in the year 2016, and that number is expected to increase in the foreseeable future. As more passengers travel by air for both leisure and business, more in-flight medical incidents can expect to occur. The frequency of in-flight medical events is difficult to appraise due to differences in methodology in the aviation medicine literature. It is estimated that the rate of in-flight medical events can be as high as 1 event per 6,250 air passengers, to as low as 1 in-flight medical event per 190,000 air passengers. Some of the most common in-flight medical events are related to syncope, digestive system, or cardiovascular system problems. To deal with in-flight medical events, commercial airlines have resources ranging from CPR-trained cabin crew to access to ground-based medical consultants. In addition, first-aid kits and emergency medical kits can be found on some commercial flights. To increase awareness of the components of the first-aid kit and emergency medical kit, this study reviews and compares regulations concerning those components as dictated by American, European, Indian, Indonesian, Emirati, and Canadian civil aviation regulations.