Skyports partners with Swoop Aero on UK-wide drone delivery

Above: Swoop Aero Kookaburra Mk III with Skyports livery.
Image courtesy Skyports

In a UK-first, Skyports has chosen to leverage Swoop Aero’s comprehensive aviation platform and 3D-printed electric drones to deliver a wide range of services including delivering essential medical supplies for the National Health Service (NHS) to remote areas.

With hospitals and NHS staff at capacity during the COVID-19 pandemic, deliveries of supplies between hospitals have become essential to the provision of basic healthcare. With the support of the Swoop Aero platform, Skyports’ on-demand service will allow the transport of high-value, perishable cargo such as vaccines, medicines and pathology samples.

Skyports specialises in operating end-to-end drone deliveries within the medical, e-commerce, and logistics sectors. The company is already conducting medical drone deliveries to assist the NHS in Scotland in the battle against COVID-19 and will be expanding its service in the coming months. Skyports is also helping Royal Mail to deliver to the most remote parts of the UK. The Swoop Aero platform is the latest to join Skyports’ growing fleet of world-leading unmanned aircraft.

Swoop Aero is a drone-powered logistics company with established operations in five countries throughout Africa and the Pacific. At its core, the company offers a sophisticated drone technology platform which covers the full suite of autonomous aviation services. For Skyports this includes operations and mission management, software and handshake integration with existing logistics management systems, ground control, aircraft and hardware.

Skyports CEO Duncan Walker said, “There is a huge opportunity for drone delivery services in the UK - now more than ever. The demand for delivered goods is increasing and our service will support a wider network of hospitals and medical practices as they continue to respond the COVID-19 pandemic.  We want more healthcare facilities to benefit from our service over the long term and the addition of the Swoop Aero platform enables us to expand our offering nationwide

Swoop Aero CEO Eric Peck said, “The Swoop Aero partnership model was designed to give organisations access to our comprehensive drone technology platform, and we are thrilled that we can enable Skyports to service those most in need during the pandemic. This approach is what makes us unique and we’re proud that our technology is delivering better health outcomes at this all- important time.”