You mean like an airplane tanker?

Those were exclusive use contracts where the operator is guaranteed revenue whether they fly or not. This helps them secure financing. There are also hundreds of other operators on a list for when we exhaust all aviation resources. These operators often anticipate the need and position themselves at their own expense, ready to fly as soon as they get the call. For them, it was low risk to spend a bit of fuel and pilot time to get there because the sooner they got the call, the sooner they can turn blades as revenue hours. Rather than wait 6 or 8 hours, or two days, to get there and miss out on revenue.