Mercy Flight is the go-to call when minutes matter.

The non-profit emergency airlift provider has been helping save lives since 1981.

The company, with the white, orange and blue helicopters, is getting something of a facelift.

"These aircraft fly a little quicker and a little smoother than the other aircraft,” said Mercy Flight pilot John Cummings. 

To get a sense of how important Mercy Flight can be, consider this: it takes an ambulance roughly two hours over some bumpy roads to take a patient to a hospital in Olean.

In the air, Cummings said it’s only about 25 minutes.

These new Bell 429 helicopters have the latest and greatest in life-saving technology, including twin engines, making them safer.

The new fleet is like an early Christmas present for Cummings, who has been waiting to fulfill a dream of flying these crafts for about 20 years.

"Everybody wants to be able to fly all the new aircraft that comes around,” Cummings said. “I'm lucky enough to be working here where they were working on getting new aircraft."

The three Bells have a price tag of more than $7 million apiece, and they’re in addition to a previous Bell purchased a few years ago, completing the new fleet.

The helicopters are a dream for pilots and even dispatchers like Marc Budziszewski.

"Communications with them are better, they're a lot faster, so we can tell people they will be there sooner,” Budziszewski said.

Adam White, Mercy Flight’s chief flight paramedic, said for them, the Bells offer greater patient care.

Now there are dedicated areas for monitors and hooks for IVs.

"It is so amazing, I can't tell you,” he smiled. “The fleet we are retiring, you know, all of those aircraft are from the mid-‘80s.”

The official unveiling of the new Bell helicopters is Thursday at Mercy Flights Cheektowaga hanger at noon.