Blue Dart Begins Drone Deliveries In Partnership With Skye Air

Logistics company Blue Dart on Friday (June 21) said that it has commenced drone deliveries in partnership with homegrown drone maker Skye Air.

In a statement, Blue Dart said that it will initially focus on ecommerce deliveries and will deploy drones to offer last-mile services, although it did not specify the cities where the service will be operational. 

Meanwhile, a report said that the company is already offering the service in Haryana’s Gurugram city.

In a filing with the BSE, Blue Dart said that it plans to cover additional pin codes across the country in subsequent stages with its partners.

Commenting on the launch, Blue Dart managing director Balfour Manuel said, “…The nation’s robust economic growth, coupled with the aspirations of its consumers and growth in Tier II and Tier III cities, has significantly boosted purchasing power. This surge in demand emphasises the need for innovative solutions that drive growth while ensuring efficiency and sustainability. As we witness the marvel of drone technology, we eagerly anticipate extending this service further, with plans to cover additional pin codes in subsequent stages with our partners”. 

The listed logistics company plans to undertake drone deliveries by installing containers called Skye Pods in housing societies. These containers will serve as collection points where delivery executives can pick up parcels and then deliver them to the final customers.

The launch comes nearly three years after Blue Dart first began experimenting with drone deliveries by piloting visual line of sight (VLOS) drones in Hyderabad’s Vikarabad area in September 2021. A few months later, it also conducted trials for its beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) drones under the Telangana Government’s “Medicine from the Sky” initiative.

Blue Dart has followed the suit of a slew of logistics startups and companies adopting drone deliveries to reduce the time taken to deliver shipments. Last month, Ecom Express said that it would soon commence a drone delivery pilot in the Delhi-NCR region.

In May, listed logistics unicorn Delhivery announced that it would set up a wholly-owned subsidiary, Delhivery Robotics India, to manufacture drones and provide freight air transportation services. Late last year, Shiprocket also partnered with Skye Air for drone deliveries around Gurugram.