As part of ongoing trials, New Delhi-based drone startup Skye Air Mobility will be taking up a long range delivery of medicines for Flipkart Health+ at a distance of 60-70 km in Kolkata and surrounding areas.
In this trial which started a few days ago, Skye Air Mobility has been delivering medicines from Flipkart Heath+’s warehouse in Baruipur to its over-the-counter (OTC) shops located at a maximum distance of 16 km, carrying loads of 5 kg of medicines.
The trials will continue till September 8, 2022.
Speaking to Moneycontrol, Skye Air Mobility’s CEO Ankit Kumar said, “This is happening in Baruipur, where Flipkart Health+ has a warehouse. This warehouse replenishes goods or medicines to OTCs across Kolkata.”
Baruipur is a town under the North 24 Parganas district, which comes under the ambit of Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority.
Kumar said that Skye Air, with the help of its drone Skye Ship One, is connecting around 10 OTCs located in and around Kolkata, with the warehouse.
“For instance if you go on the Flipkart Health+ app, and you order a medicine, that medicine needs to be fulfilled by a local OTC. That order is prioritised. Then, we carry that order to the OTC from the warehouse, and then the OTCs will the medicines to your house,” Kumar told Moneycontrol.
Two drones have been deployed which have been taking up approximately 26 flights on an average, running back and forth from OTCs to the warehouse.
The drone is also taking around 20-25 minutes to reach an OTC located 16 km from the warehouse.
At the end of the pilot, Kumar said, Skye Air will be taking up a long-distance drone delivery, connecting OTCs located at a distance of 60-70 km.
The company will be using their drone Artemis, to deliver medicines in far-reaching areas to create an inter-city/district model for Flipkart Health+.
“With the ongoing BVLOS trials, we anticipate to gather more data on route, flight, cost-economic viability in order to develop models for commercial flights to begin in the next few months,” Kumar further said.
Earlier, the company conducted a similar BVLOS flight of 70 kms between Uttarkashi and Dehradun (Uttarakhand) delivering diagnostic samples.
Skye Air also commenced trials for delivering frozen food in partnership with Curefoods in Gurgaon on July 25. The beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) trials started from Curefoods warehouse in Jhundsari to the Curefoods Kitchen Outlet at Golf Course Road, Gurgaon.
It also delivered essential medicines and critical lab samples using drones, from Kozhikode to Areekode in the Malappuram district of Kerala. A similar project was also taken up in Bengaluru.
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