Medical logistics drone flights in Glasgow

The flights were between Glasgow Airport and the Golden Jubilee University National Hospital in Clydebank, and were operated by Skyport Drone Services – a contributor to the CAELUS project.

The live flights support CAELUS’s plans to deliver the UK’s first national drone-based distribution network for medical supplies.

“These flight trials are an important step towards the integration of drones into modern airspace and enabling the safe use of drones at scale within Scotland’s airspace,” said Fiona Smith, CAELUS Project Director, and Group Head of Aerodrome Strategy at AGS Airports – the owner of Glasgow Airport. “The input from all partners has resulted in a high-quality safety case for the flights undertaken in a busy airport environment which can be transposed for other sites in future.”

Smith added that more live flight trials would be carried out ‘in the coming months’.

The CAELUS project is a consortium of 16 partner organizations – including AGS Airports, Skyport Drone Services, NHS Scotland, and the University of Strathclyde. The project is being part-funded by the UK Research and Innovation Future Flight Challenge.

“We are delighted to have had a successful flight trial here in the west coast of Scotland,” added Karen Bell, Joint Innovation Lead for CAELUS in the NHS. “We are well positioned to participate in this drone trial because of our vast geographical area of island and remote populations. This work has the potential to greatly improve our services closer to home – now we can take the time to reflect on this experience and instill the improvements required.”

UK telecommunications firm BT Group recently launched the country’s first Drone SIM, to support beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) flying.