Air Canada Cargo and Drone Delivery Canada (DDC) have signed an exclusive agreement marketing DDC’s drone and delivery services in Canada.
Under the agreement, DDC will build and operate up to 150,000 drone delivery routes in Canada for the carrier. These routes will include timetables, flight schedules, payload capacities, type of drones to be deployed and payment terms – the details of which are yet to be determined and are subject to approval by the applicable regulatory authorities. For its part of the agreement, Air Canada Cargo will not use or engage with any other drone delivery service providers. Air Canada Cargo will also use its network and resources to market, promote and sell DDC’s drone services on the agreed routes.
The initial term of the agreement, while subject to DDC obtaining required regulatory approvals, is ten years from the effective date of May 29 this year.
According to Air Canada Cargo, the new technology and service has the potential to offer the cargo community cost–effective solutions to complex issues related to supply chain distribution in non-traditional markets, including remote communities in Canada.
For DDC, “this agreement greatly accelerates our commercial roll out in Canada,” said DDC CEO Toni Di Benedetto. In the future, he said, the company hopes to pursue even larger markets in the United States and Europe.
You can view footage of Drone Delivery Canada’s test flights for its Beyond Visual Line-of-Sight (BVLOS) project below: