Wing to launch medical delivery services in Dublin

Wing has partnered with UK-based healthcare and logistics firm Apian to establish this new delivery network, which will see pharmaceuticals, lab samples, medical devices and supplies be delivered from suppliers to hospitals and pharmacies.

The company hopes to conduct around 20 deliveries a day in the area, with a maximum payload of approximately 1kg. It stated that it 'expects to begin working with hospitals and other care providers in Dublin later this year'.

The company has not yet disclosed which healthcare providers have signed up to receive the deliveries, or the precise areas of Dublin in which it will initially operate. However, Shannon Nash, Chief Financial Officer of Wing, has confirmed that it will establish a central depot for the service, and that some of the recipient healthcare providers lie within a 20km radius of that depot.

Nash, speaking to Irish national broadcaster RTE, said: “We are working out cost details. But what I can tell you is that the economics of drone deliveries have improved significantly in the last couple of years with scale.”

Wing previously began a series of trial drone deliveries in the Dublin suburb of Lusk in late 2022. It has since been working the Irish Aviation Authority as it continues to make a case for the technology in Ireland.

“They’re very aware of this and we will continue to work with them as we roll out this partner-to-partner delivery service in Ireland,” Nash added. “We will be working very closely with the partners and with regulators on what we can and cannot do and how we have to do it. That’s a big part of this use case.”

Apian also recently ran trials of medical drone deliveries in the UK, in partnership with Skyports and the Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust.