Mumbai, June 30 -- Bengaluru-based Airbound and the Andhra Pradesh Drone Corporation (APDC) have signed a memorandum of understanding to develop a scalable drone delivery network across the Amaravati Capital Region. The agreement was signed in New Delhi by the APDC chairperson and managing director and the founder and chief executive officer of Airbound, with the Union minister for civil aviation in attendance. The collaboration is designed to integrate logistics with healthcare, e-commerce and commercial stakeholders across Amaravati, Vijayawada and Guntur.
As part of a phased rollout, pilot operations will begin in Guntur and both parties are targeting 10,000 daily drone flights across Andhra Pradesh over the coming year. The planners indicated that that scale could position Andhra Pradesh among the largest commercial drone networks globally. The project forms the core of the proposed Amaravati Capital Region Drone Delivery Network and aims to establish interconnected corridors and service nodes across the capital region.
Central to the network is Airbound's proprietary blended-wing-body tailsitter aircraft, described as an uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) built from lightweight carbon fibre and weighing 1.5 kilogram (kg). The platform offers a 1.5:1 payload-to-weight ratio compared with the conventional 4:1 industry standard and the developer projects delivery costs up to 20 times lower than conventional methods, reducing transit expenses to as low as Rs 0.10 per km. The technology is intended to enable frequent point-to-point transport of single packages with lower physical economics than large vehicles.
The civil aviation minister characterised the move as an affirmation of India's sovereign capabilities in next-generation aviation and highlighted the potential for high-skilled jobs and economic growth. The APDC leadership said the partnership will lay the foundations of a new logistics architecture for the State, while the company will undertake route mapping, regulatory coordination and operational trials, drawing on its record of more than 1,000 medical flights for a major hospital group.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Construction World.