Helsinki pilots healthcare supply deliveries with drones

The goal of the pilot is to determine how drones could be utilized in city logistics in the near future, either for regular healthcare deliveries or for example in exceptional situations such as a new pandemic.

“Drones are a new form of transport with a lot of potential. In congested and fully-built cities, making deliveries by air can streamline shipments and improve the city’s operational efficiency. This drone experiment, which is now beginning, is truly interesting and will offer us many lessons,” states Sami Aherva, Logistics Unit Director at Stara.

Pilot flights help to develop logistics

The drone used for the pilot transports has a wingspan of 2.6 metres and carries a maximum of three kilograms of cargo at a time, at an altitude of 60 to 100 meters. For the pilots, it carries everyday healthcare supplies such as masks, gloves, and disinfectant. In the future, air transport by drone could be used for a much wider range of medical products.

“This is an interesting experiment for us because we gain concrete experience with a new delivery method for goods logistics that will be significant in the future, as well as its requirements. The experiment also gives us guidelines for developing goods logistics and for how we can take into account possible disruption and exceptional situations in logistics,” says Ari Lallo, Head of Transport and Logistics for the City of Helsinki’s Social, Health, and Rescue Services Sector.

The flights are carried out beyond the visual line of sight, with a permit granted by the Finnish Transport and Communications Agency, Traficom, and under the continuous supervision of a human operator. Aviant flies the flights from Oslo but there is also a ground staff member in Helsinki. Aviant operates similar flights in other Nordic countries too.

The pilot flights are a collaboration between the City of Helsinki’s Construction Services Stara, the City of Helsinki’s Social Services, Health Care and Rescue Services Division, and the innovation company Forum Virium Helsinki. The flight operator is the Norwegian company Aviant.

Photo: Sakari Röyskö

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