The image of the rarefied jet setting crowd is witnessing a change as more people hop in and out of flights for business and leisure purposes. At least that is what Amit Dutta, MD of BLADE India envisages.
While the need for Urban Air Mobility (UAM) has always existed in India, recent lifestyle changes due to COVID-19 has further underlined its need. With leisure travel picking up, Dutta tells Hotelier India why more fliers will opt for charters, especially for short-haul flights. And how pilgrimage destinations are set to see more footfalls as guests can make swift visits, rather than having to travel for long hours.
Why are you so gung-ho about UAM?
Nearly 60% of the world’s population will be urban by 2030. Around 65 cities in India have an aggregate population of 165 million and road congestion is only expected to get worse as urbanisation increases.
There are about 22 cars per 1000 people in India compared to 850 in the UK, making India the 4th largest automobile market in the world. To accommodate this significant population growth, innovative vertical mobility and infrastructure solutions are a must as cities will become increasingly congested.
For India, the opportunity of UAM lies in business, pilgrimage and leisure travel, mega events, organ transfers, air ambulances and last-mile delivery. India is the third largest aviation market in the world with its passenger traffic standing at 341.05 million as of 2019. This just goes on to show the demand in domestic travel which UAM can cater to as well.
Lastly, people have started prioritising safety and hygiene due to COVID-19. There will be apprehension in spending hours on the road as people now want to reduce the risk of exposure and unnecessary touchpoints.
Amit Dutta, MD, BLADE India.
What key lessons did you learn as a UAM service for the medical fraternity during the pandemic?Â
The need for air medical evacuation during the second wave taught us the grave need for quick air medevac in India. This existed not only due to COVID but also due to the accessibility challenges in the country.
A lot of demand for air medevac came from Tier 2 and 3 cities that wanted to be better connected to the metropolitans for better healthcare. This is why we launched BLADE Care, an end-to-end medevac service which provides patients and their families’ quick medical help.
Nearly 23% of the trauma in India is associated with the lack of proper transportation of the patients. Timely medical aid is one of the key benefits of UAM as short haul intra and inter-city medevac services and organ transportation will be faster.
How did your intercity transport experiment in Pune and regular commutes to leisure destinations work out in terms of month-on-month growth in trips taken?Â
BLADE fliers have taken well to the convenience and comfort of the entire journey. Be it the elderly who look forward to Shirdi darshan and opt for our service instead of a gruelling 7-hour commute or the regular Pune-based professional visiting Mumbai daily. Instead of a one-time trip, several fliers adopted BLADE as a regular commute, which is evident from our 63% repeat customer rate. Hence, we introduced booklets of 10 to 30 flight passes which our frequent fliers can purchase in bulk.
Our Mumbai/Pune to Shirdi pilgrimage route saw a tremendous response because a person can do their Shirdi darshan and be back the same day. Moreover, we curate a holistic travel package that takes care of their entire experience there, from VIP darshan, pick-up and drop-off and refreshments.
Leisure travel has picked up significantly with many fliers opting for charters. We’ve seen a threefold increase in our charters, though our by-the-seat operations were on hold due to the Maharashtra monsoon.
While the hub and spoke has worked for travel companies with respect to local destinations, can it also be leveraged for the UAM segment?
Absolutely. Leisure travel is on the rise and a service such as ours aids in increasing the efficiencies of the entire travel ecosystem. We are soon launching in Karnataka with services between Bangalore, Coorg and Kabini. Travellers can now book a flight from their said location into Bangalore, take a BLADE from the Bangalore airport to either Coorg or Kabini and land straight into the hotel properties courtesy the partnership we have with them. What could earlier be seen as a tiresome journey is now a seamless and efficient experience, which is bound to encourage more people to travel.
There’s also a huge behavioural shift in people’s way of travel. It is not just about getting out to a nearby location, which is evidently on the rise, but it’s also about the quality of the experience. People want richer experiences, more time at the destination to imbibe and explore the culture.
Domestic tourism is expected to go up from 1.85 billion in 2018 to 2.8 billion by 2022. The pent up demand to travel combined with the focus on wanting better experiences works for UAM as people will prefer seamless experiences and time efficiency above all else.
How are you scaling up your business model in the industry? Given the capital intensive nature of this business, how are you mapping your finances to sustain business for a longer term?
We are in discussion with at least 15 state governments to introduce short haul air mobility to better connect their destinations, enhance accessibility and tackle congestion. The aim is to launch in newer markets in a phased manner. We also work closely with commercial airlines and hotels to increase the efficiency in the ecosystem. For Karnataka launch, we will be connecting places that aren’t accessible by commercial airlines and thus make travel more robust.
Our Joint venture partners, BLADE USA has recently raised $365 million in funding, making BLADE the first publicly traded UAM company. We are also making aggressive plans to introduce EVAs (electric vertical aircraft) in India which are more cost effective, reduce noise and have zero carbon footprint for a more sustainable future, economically and environmentally.
Besides UAM, will you also leverage your fleet for aerial sightseeing, emergency evacuation, air logistics, aerial media light shows, etc?Â
The opportunities in UAM are truly vast. We are focusing on catering to three main travel segments i.e. business, leisure and pilgrimage to tackle the pain point of congestion in these sectors.
We do however, look at product innovation from time to time to cater to special events and occasions. We partnered with the U2 concert and flew over 100 people from the city centre to the venue in 5 minutes. We’ve also have partnered with The Valley Run 2021 to fly supercar owners from Mumbai to Aamby Valley in 25 minutes, which saw a tremendous response.
