COVENTRY aerial logistics firm Skyfarer Ltd is leading a ‘UK first’ trial to connect the city’s University Hospital with Rugby’s St Cross via a drone flight ‘corridor’.
The Medical Drone Delivery Beyond Visual Line of Sight scheme being undertaken by Coventry firm Skyfarer Ltd and Medical Logistics UK will connect 32km of airspace between the two hospitals is aimed at speeding up medical deliveries.
The corridor will be in place for three months until December and will conduct a record-breaking number of medical drone deliveries.
The trial’s long-term aim is to help ease the growing pressures on the healthcare system, where there is a growing need for hospitals to get time-sensitive medical supplies.
Skyfarer project manager Georgia Hanrahan said: “As a result of significant road congestion and heavy infrastructure, we believe the use of drones can help support medical deliveries and speed up the process.
“There are no potholes in the sky, nor is there as much congestion, and without the need for heavy infrastructure to land, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) can add to the fleet of logistical transfers and provide a faster, more sustainably friendly and cheaper solution.”
The trial kicks off the first leg of the Future Flight Phase three projects corridor called Skyway – a drone superhighway connecting 265km of the UK.
Skyfarer was founded in 2017 by Elliot Parnham, an Aerospace and Engineering graduate from Coventry University.
