- Operations expand to Maryland, Virginia, Arkansas and Oklahoma; new clients include Mount Sinai's recently launched lung program and Piedmont Hospital
- Additional dedicated aircraft, owned and operated by third parties and available coast-to-coast, will serve both Blade’s individual consumer fliers and medical clients
- Expansion follows Blade’s acquisition of Trinity Medical Solutions and solidifies the company’s position as the largest dedicated air transporter of human organs for transplant in the United States
Blade Air Mobility (NASDAQ:BLDE, “Blade”) today announced an expansion of the operating footprint for its organ transportation business. With the addition of 14 transplant centers and Organ Procurement Organizations (“OPOs”) during 2022, Blade’s MediMobility division now serves more than 40 hospital clients across 20 states.
Scott Wunsch, COO of Blade MediMobility said, "Our expanded footprint provides immediate benefits for all of the transplant centers and OPOs we serve. By leveraging the growing buying power of both Blade’s individual consumer fliers and hospital clients, we have secured dedicated access to more aircraft in more locations at very favorable rates. Additionally, we can now offer standby access to aircraft in new geographies, enabling unprecedented flexibility to pursue organs that might otherwise go unused. This is a significant value add to our clients, especially given tight availability of certain types of charter aircraft currently."
"Our integrated, multimodal offering enables transplant programs to reduce organ transport time and cost, resulting in improved patient and program outcomes. Blade's last-mile offering, currently serviced by captive helicopters and ambulances, continues to expand with these new hospital additions,” said Will Heyburn, CFO of Blade. “We are leveraging our unmatched scale in critical last-mile delivery to push towards a transition to drones and Electric Vertical Aircraft, or EVA, enabling further reduced transport time and cost.”
Mr. Heyburn added, “Given the existing on-site landing pad infrastructure at most of our client hospitals as well as our EVA manufacturer partnerships, we believe our MediMobility division is well positioned to utilize these new aircraft as soon as they are available for commercial use, reducing our hospital partners’ need for intermodal ground transport.”
About Blade
Blade is a technology-powered, global air mobility platform committed to reducing travel friction by providing cost-effective air transportation alternatives to some of the most congested ground routes in the U.S. and abroad. Today, the Company predominantly uses helicopters and amphibious aircraft for its passenger routes and is also one of the largest air medical transporters of human organs for transplant in the world. Its asset-light model, coupled with its exclusive passenger terminal infrastructure, is designed to facilitate a seamless transition to Electric Vertical Aircraft (“EVA” or “eVTOL”), enabling lower cost air mobility to the public that is both quiet and emission-free.
For more information, visit https://ir.blade.com/.
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