German Airways (ZQ, Cologne/Bonn) and parent Zeitfracht Group have agreed to purchase 17 transport drones from Wingcopter, the German manufacturer of eVTOL unmanned aerial systems (UAS) and drone delivery service provider.
They also have an option to order 115 additional Wingcopter 198 transport drones in two further tranches by the end of 2023. The aircraft are to be used from the second half of 2024 – initially offshore - for the delivery of spare parts to wind farms.
German Airways and Wingcopter will work closely together to develop the drones. Rostock/Laage Airport – German Airways' home base which is owned by the Zeitfracht Group – will be used for test flights and for evaluating collected data, the companies said in a joint statement.
The electric drones being developed by Wingcopter can be loaded with a payload of up to 5kg and cover a distance of between 75km and 110km, depending on the load. They were selected by German Airways due to their payload and range, and their stability in adverse wind and weather conditions, making them particularly suitable for off-shore operations. The drones take off vertically without the need for additional infrastructure and then move forward horizontally like a normal aircraft. Their purely electric drive contributes to emission-free requirements.
"The time is ripe for the commercial use of drones, for example for the delivery of spare parts in offshore wind farms. With German Airways, our Rostock-Laage airport, and the experience of our shipping company, OPUS, in delivery operations on the high seas, we have ideal prerequisites together with Wingcopter to push this technology a giant step forward,” commented Zeitfracht board member Wolfram Simon-Schröter.
Wingcopter Chief Executive Officer Tom Plümmer said the drone manufacturer would benefit from Zeitfracht's experience in the logistics and aviation sectors. "With the planned supply flights to ships and offshore wind farms, we will open up a new, rapidly growing area of application for which the Wingcopter 198 is ideally suited thanks to its high efficiency, even in extreme weather conditions. In addition, the test site and the close cooperation [with German Airways] offers the opportunity to jointly develop further promising business areas," he added.
As a certified airline, German Airways said it already fulfilled the essential regulatory requirements to operate Wingcopter's delivery drones.
