No frills carrier Spicejet on Friday received approval for approval from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to conduct drone trials for delivering essential goods, medical items and e-commerce products.
The airline will conduct this drone trials through its dedicated cargo arm SpiceXpress.
A SpiceXpress-led consortium had submitted a proposal to the regulator for conducting experimental Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) operations of remotely piloted aircraft in response to a DGCA notice inviting Expression of Interest.
Based on the recommendations of the BVLOS Experiment Assessment and Monitoring Committee, SpiceXpress was granted permission for conducting experimental BVLOS operations.
The consortium includes Throttle Aerospace, a drone manufacturing company, AeoLogic, an analytics and software solution firm and Involia, which is a provider of air traffic awareness and collision avoidance services.
Ajay Singh, Chairman & Managing Director, SpiceJet, said, “We are extremely optimistic about using this exciting new mode of delivery for products like perishables and medicines which have a smaller shelf-life and need urgent deliveries in the remotest parts of India.”
SpiceXpress will be looking at last-mile delivery from the warehouse and the prime focus will be on delivering medical emergency parcels and essential supplies in remote areas.
The airline has transported more than 12,298 tons of cargo on more than 1,728 flights since the nationwide lockdown began, transporting medical and surgical supplies, sanitizers, face-masks, coronavirus rapid test kits, IR thermometers among others.
The airline has expanded it’s cargo network by operating international cargo flights to and from Jakarta, Kathmandu, Sudan, South Korea, Cebu, Huangzhou, Tashkent, Baghdad, Cambodia, Guangzhou, Abu Dhabi, Kuwait, Singapore, Ho Chi Minh, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Bangkok, Colombo, Dubai, Kabul, Myanmar, Sharjah, Male, Kuala Lumpur, Ukraine, Nepal, and Indonesia.
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