German drone maker Wingcopter will provide a fleet of its tiltrotor Wingcopter 198s to the Spright unit of Air Methods. Spright was launched in July 2020 to offer a drone-based, healthcare-specific delivery network in the U.S., leveraging Air Methods’ 300 air ambulance bases. Under the deal, Wingcopter will become Spright’s exclusive provider of fixed-wing eVTOL cargo drones in the U.S., while Spright becomes the exclusive provider of MRO services for the Wingcopter 198 to third parties in the U.S. Air Methods has a long history of MRO activity through its United Rotorcraft unit. Wingcopter values the contract at more than $16 million.
Spright is supporting Wingcopter in its FAA UAS type certification and collaborating with Hutchinson Regional Health System in Kansas for initial tests and plans to expand service beyond the state with additional medical projects later this year. Drone missions include on-demand delivery between medical facilities of medical supplies, medications, vaccines, blood, and lab samples. Wingcopter estimates the drone delivery market will grow to $40 billion by 2030.
“This multimillion-dollar commercial agreement with Spright is clear proof that the Wingcopter 198 has a perfect product-market fit. We are proud to enable large-scale drone delivery across the United States with this strong partnership,” said Tom Plümmer, the co-founder and CEO of Wingcopter.