SkyeAir, a drone delivery tech firm and the Department of Information Technology, Goverment of Himachal Pradesh are getting in to a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to announce their collaborative intent 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 kms throughout the trial.
The Drone delivery tech firm is using its UAV, Skye Ship One to facilitate real-time deliveries of vaccines and medicines within a specified temperature range of 2-8 degree Celsius. There will be several reverse logistic flights which shall also be done in order to help the adoption of drone technology to enable cost effective deliveries within the state, it said in a statement.
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 range and air-pockets.
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 for the successful conduct of the BVLOS trials in Chamba and further collaboration with Skye Air to expand drone based delivery ecosystem in Himachal Pradesh to medical and agri-commodity deliveries.”
Swapnik Jakkampundi, Co-founder, Skye Air said, “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 enable commercial flights in the district, we shall be able to directly benefit over 5.19 lakh people by better healthcare accessibility and creating local employments in the drone delivery ecosystem.”
Skye Air Mobility is a drone delivery tech 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. It has worked with leading hyperlocal delivery, logistics and ecommerce giants such as Dunzo Digital, BlueDart Express, Flipkart Internet, Redcliffe Diagnostics and others, the statement added.
