In the recent development of events, Indian Airline SpiceJet has announced that it will soon be bringing drone delivery service to the country. The drone delivery service will be used for various purposes such as transporting vaccines, life-saving medicines and any other essential goods. The carrier further informed that it had joined hands with Throttle Aerospace for more than 50 customised high-end drones and the software management for these drones will be provided by Aeologic.
About the Drone Delivery Service
As per the recent statement from SpiceJet, the airline plans to initiate drone services with different payload capacities. This will include payload capabilities in the range of 0kg - 5kg, 5kg – 10kg, and 10kg- 25kg which could help in changing the supply chain system of the country. The budget carrier has informed that the primary focus of this drone delivery system will be on mid-mile deliveries and in the future, it will work on last-mile deliveries.
The statement said that SpiceXpress which is the logistics department for the airline will focus on delivering vaccines, life-saving drugs, essential goods and much more to remotest places in the country that are usually hard to access with the existing traditional means of transportation. The plan to launch this drone delivery system will at first include 10 districts and over 150 locations with an aim to achieve 25,000 deliveries in a month. Moreover, the airline might also set up dedicated drone ports at various locations in the country.
Last year, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) had issued a notice inviting expression of interest to which SpiceXpress conglomerate responded by submitting a proposal to conduct experiments of Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) drone operations. The BVLOS Experiment Assessment and Monitoring Committee gave positive recommendations which helped SpiceXpress in attaining formal permission for conducting experimental BVLOS drone trials by DGCA in May of last year.
Furthermore, as per the statement from the airline, Throttle Aerospace which the former will partner up with for the latest drone delivery service has already completed 100 hours of testing based on the recommendations of the BVLOS Experiment Assessment and Monitoring Committee.
