India-based drone delivery startup Skye Air has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Department of Information Technology, Govt. Of Himachal Pradesh to enable and promote medical and agri-commodity deliveries within the state.
As a part of the strategic partnership, Skye Air has initiated a 3-day long BVLOS trial in the Chamba district of Himachal Pradesh to connect over 6 PHC/CHCs and the Area Hospitals via multiple flights between points covering an aerial distance of 170 km throughout the trial.
The Drone delivery startup is using its most reliable UAV, Skye Ship One to facilitate real-time deliveries of vaccines and medicines within a specified temperature range of 2-8 degrees Celsius. There will be several reverse logistic flights which shall also be done to help the adoption of drone technology to enable cost-effective deliveries within the state.
The flights, equipped with consignments of medical supplies flew beyond at an altitude of 400 feet above ground level in a designated Green Zone of Chamba district. The flights took place at 3 air corridors – Chaned, Tissa, and Mehla demonstrating the diversity of Skye Ship One adopting different temperature zones, steep mountain ranges, and air-pockets.
Speaking on the partnership, Mukesh Repaswal, Director, Department of Information Technology, Govt. of Himachal Pradesh said, “The use of drones can be a critical intervention in improving the ease of access to services in mountainous and remote regions of Himachal Pradesh. The demonstration in Chamba will help in ascertaining the advantages of drone use in medicine delivery and benefits of drone-enabled governance.”
“We look forward to the successful conduct of the BVLOS trials in Chamba and further collaboration with Skye Air to expand the drone-based delivery ecosystem in Himachal Pradesh to medical and agri-commodity deliveries,” Mukesh said.
Commenting on the association, Swapnik Jakkampundi, Co-founder, Skye Air said, “We are elated with our new partnership with the Govt. of Himachal Pradesh and we look forward to bringing better healthcare accessibility within the remotest parts of the state. As a beginning, we shall be conducting around 25 flights during the trial phase taking up hard weather and terrain challenges.”
“In the coming months, as we look forward to enabling commercial flights in the district, we shall be able to directly benefit over 5.19 lakh people by better healthcare accessibility and creating local employment in the drone delivery ecosystem. These are times to remember when a revolutionary technology is setting up the pace to impact millions of people,” Jakkampundi added.
Several senior officials from the Chamba District including, D.C. Rana, Deputy Commissioner, Chamba; Amit Mehra, ADM Chamba, and Naveen Tanwar, SDM Chamba witnessed the first drone delivery flight taking off in the beautiful valley of Chamba.
“Today sets a remarkable day with Chamba District taking the lead in deploying new age drone delivery technology by Skye Air to enable better healthcare accessibility in far-flung and hard to reach areas. The drones can go up to 100 km aerial to deliver medicines and further in Disaster relief activities for package deliveries as well,” D.C. Rana, Deputy Commissioner of Chamba added.
Skye Air Mobility is a drone delivery tech leader focused primarily on healthcare, e-commerce, hyperlocal and agri-commodity logistics. The company has completed over 940 deliveries with its flagship “Skye Ship One” in Telangana, Karnataka, Meghalaya, and Himachal Pradesh.
The company has worked with leading hyperlocal delivery, logistics, and eCommerce giants such as Dunzo Digital, BlueDart Express, Flipkart Internet, Redcliffe Diagnostics, and others.