The charity aims to save lives, reduce or prevent disability or suffering from critical illness and injury, by delivering a first class pre-hospital emergency medical service.

Since fundraising began in 1997, Essex & Herts Air Ambulance has flown over 20,000 missions,[3] and is deployed, on average, six times per day.

During the hours of darkness an EHAAT Rapid Response Vehicle (RRV) based at North Weald is used from 7:30 pm to 7:30 am.

The helicopters and RRVs can also carry medical equipment and drugs, much of which will not be found on standard land ambulances – along with the specially trained doctor in pre-hospital emergency medicine, who can perform life-saving open heart surgery and general anaesthesia at the roadside.

The dual-pilot scheme was introduced in 2016 to enhance patient care,[4] as previously the paramedic would act as navigator, aiding the pilot.

Essex & Herts Air Ambulance utilises two helicopters and four rapid response cars to transport their pre-hospital care teams.

The helicopters have the ability to access remote parts of Essex and Hertfordshire quickly, unaffected by road traffic congestions.

The helicopters can also reach areas inaccessible to land vehicles including woods, beaches, docks and golf courses.

G-EHEM, an MD 902 Explorer, previously G-LNCT at Lincs & Notts Air Ambulance, continues to be leased from SAS.

Each base has two Volvo XC90 RRVs for the medical crew to operate from when helicopters are offline in darkness and bad weather.

In the year ended March 2023, EHAAT's income was £17.6 million, including £7,000 of government grants, against expenditure of £14.0M, of which £8.8M was spent on delivering the emergency service.