Although in many cases and countries the legal basis for the use of logistics drones is not yet fully clarified, the first use cases for the transport of goods through the air are already implemented. Drones are used in particular for the transport of time-critical goods (e.g. health care sector) and for accessing hard-to-reach areas. When developing logistics solutions, companies focus not only on the development of drones themselves, but also on the additional infrastructure required to operate such a drone logistics network.
FIA clubs often are already involved in some capacity in their countries emergency services - from insurance and value-added services for their members to operating their own emergency and medical services.
The use of drones in the medical environment was successfully demonstrated in multiple countries, from Sweden to Rwanda, and quietly progressed into a successful commercial operation for example by Village Reach or Matternet.
Take Rwanda for example: A densely populated country with the means to afford healthcare for its citizens but one quite literal roadblock: Due to delayed infrastructure renovations and environmental factors, even cities that are located close together require long, sometimes day-long, drives. Delivering medical goods with drones cuts down on that delivery time massively.
But even in countries that already have a good healthcare and emergency care system drones can further improve that. In emergencies such as heart failures, every minute counts and a project in Sweden by Everdrone has already shown that their airdropped AEDs can help save lives. Another use case that has already been shown to be profitable, for example in the Netherlands and Germany, is the delivery of time-critical lab samples between hospitals and laboratories.
We support FIA clubs entering this highly interesting sector of the transport industry: For the ultimate benefit of more than 100 million individual club members worldwide.