Skye Air Mobility: Pioneering drone delivery in cities and remote areas

New Delhi-based tech start-up has transformed the concept of drone deliveries, with an impressive track record of two million successful deliveries

In Gurgaon’s housing societies like Fresco and Rosewood, drones gliding overhead are familiar sight of late. But these aren’t your typical aerial photography units.

They belong to Skye Air Mobility, a New Delhi-based start-up revolutionising product delivery to the neighbouring residents.

Specialising in drone delivery technology, Skye Air Mobility is carving a niche as a leader in creating expedited, intelligent, and eco-conscious air mobility solutions.

Founded in November 2019, the firm has an impressive track record of 2 million successful drone deliveries. Almost seven lakh deliveries were done last year alone. These include everyday parcels ranging from groceries to electronics, jewellery and medicines.

It provides e-commerce delivery services to over 80 housing societies in Gurugram. These include residential complexes and office buildings. Here the firm has installed ‘SkyPods’ which serve as hubs for seamless package delivery.

“Drone deliveries are four times more efficient compared to road logistics,” said Ankit Kumar, founder and chief executive officer (CEO), Skye Air. “They don’t require holidays and can function during any peak season.”

Kumar explained that on average, if one housing society in Gurugram has 1000 flats and every flat is ordering 3-4 orders per day that would result in a huge flow of delivery people to that place. “We got the feedback that our service has reduced that flow of people by one-tenth in the past 3-4 months,” said Kumar.

Enhancing efficiency: Skye Air’s innovative approach

How does it work? One can place an order through Skye Air partner’s app or websites. The drones will be ready to deliver if the customer lives anywhere between 3 km and 100 km from the pick-up location. The drone can carry up to 50 kg weight. When the package is closer to the location, a notification is shared with the customer.

Skye Air has formed various partnerships to tap the e-commerce market. It has entered into a partnership with e-commerce enablement platforms such as Shiprocket and Shree Maruti Integrated Logistics (SMILe) for the delivery of shipments via drones. Kumar said that drones bring down the cost of package delivery for companies by almost 50 per cent.

The firm is also developing customized drones for healthcare and other package delivery use cases. In the past one year, about 45 per cent of the deliveries made by the company were related to medicines and healthcare products.

Recently, Skye Air bagged 10 healthcare medicine delivery government tenders across the country. These include from All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Rajkot and Bhubaneswar and Central Leprosy Teaching and Research Institute, Tamil Nadu. The list also includes All India Institute of Hygiene & Public Health, (AIIHPH) Kolkata.

The start-up has successfully participated in the project ‘medicine from the sky’ in collaboration with the Telangana government. The firm covered an aerial distance of 104 km in West Bengal to deliver a medicine consignment of Flipkart Health+, the longest commercial delivery using an unmanned vehicle.

It has also worked with the Himachal Pradesh government to successfully perform BVLOS (Beyond Visual Line of Sight) trials in the Chamba district, covering a total distance of 170 kilometres. Another successful initiative was carried out in Meghalaya, where 100 kg of turmeric was conveyed in a fly-off event. 

Skye Air also endeavours at transformational change in rural and remote areas by helping make instant access to vital medical supplies.For example, a journey from Mandi to Hamirpur, in Himachal Pradesh, which typically takes more than 2 hours by road, is completed in just 30 minutes by drone. Similarly, the trip from Chandigarh to Shimla, usually a 4-hour drive, is reduced to just 45 minutes.

In the next phase the tech start-up plans to increase its size to about 120 drones in the coming 12-15 months as it looks for more opportunities in the healthcare and diagnostics sector. It also has plans to achieve 1, 00,000 flights over the next 12-15 months.

This year, TechEagle, a drone logistics company entered into collaborations with 10 AIIMS for the fast delivery of medicines. In a significant trial, TechEagle transported a medical payload of up to five kilograms to rural primary health centres at AIIMS Rajkot and AIIMS Mangalagiri.

A groundbreaking mission: Transforming healthcare delivery

The firm had earlier said its drone had transported essential tuberculosis medicine in just 34 minutes. During its flight from AIIMS Rishikesh to secluded regions like Chamba Community Health Centre and Hindolakhal Primary Health Centre, the drone navigated through complex terrains and elevations. It achieved an altitude gain of over 2.5 km in a single 47-km journey. The same distance would take more than four hours by road.

The company had said that this mission, aligned with the Pradhan Mantri TB Mukt Yojna. By transporting essential tuberculosis medicine, the firm exhibited the potential of drone technology in the healthcare logistics space.

Globally, e-commerce giant Amazon’s delivery drones (called Prime Air). Drones will eventually allow us to deliver packages to customers in less than an hour.

“It won’t start off being available for all sizes of packages and in all locations, but we believe it’ll be pervasive over time. Think about how the experience of ordering perishable items changes with sub-one-hour delivery?” Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said in the 2023 shareholder letter.

The company is conducting flight tests for its new MK30 drone. This drone includes innovative, safety-critical features that allow it to deliver packages to customers with smaller backyards and in more densely populated suburban areas. The MK30 is quieter and can fly twice as far as the company’s current drone. While Amazon’s current drone flies during clear weather, the new MK30 can operate in more diverse weather conditions, including light rain.

These drones use vertical take-off to get off the ground, before transitioning into horizontal, wing-borne flight. Eligible customers can choose from thousands of items for drone delivery, including household essentials like AA batteries (our most popular item for drone delivery) and beauty and drugstore products.

Over the next decade, India has the potential to exploit the drone revolution opportunity. The drone and its components industry can significantly strengthen India's manufacturing potential to $23 billion approximately by 2030, according to the latest EY-FICCI report titled ‘Making India the drone hub of the world’. Making India a drone manufacturing power would not only contribute to the country’s target of a $5 trillion economy, but also largely focus on the Make in India mission, and once delivered, its success will contribute to national prosperity across multiple sectors.