Blade Air Mobility Q2 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Quartr
Provided by Quartr
August 9, 2023

There are 6 speakers on the call.

Operator

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Blade Air Mobility Fiscal Second Quarter 2023 Earnings Release Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen only mode. After the speakers' presentation, there will be a question and answer As a reminder, this call is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Mr. Ravi Janney, Vice President of Investor Relations.

Operator

You may begin.

Speaker 1

Thanks and good morning. Thank you for standing by and welcome to the Blade Air Mobility conference call and webcast for the quarter ended June 30, 2023. We appreciate everyone joining us today. Before we get started, I would like to remind you of the company's forward looking statement and Safe Harbor language. Statements made in this conference call that are not historical facts, including statements about future time periods, may be deemed to constitute forward looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.

Speaker 1

These forward looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties and actual future results may materially differ from those expressed or implied by the forward looking statements. We refer you to our SEC filings, including our annual report on Form 10 ks filed with the SEC for a more detailed discussion of the risk factors that could cause these Any forward looking statements provided during this conference call are made only as of the date of this call. As stated in our SEC filings, LAID disclaims any intent or obligation to update or revise these forward looking statements except as required by law. During today's call, we will also discuss certain non GAAP Financial measures, which we believe may be useful in evaluating our financial performance. A reconciliation of the most directly comparable consolidated GAAP financial measures to those non GAAP financial measures as provided in our earnings press release and investor presentation.

Speaker 1

Our press release, investor presentation and our Form 10 Q are available on the Investor Relations section of our website at ir.blade.com. These non GAAP measures should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for financial results prepared in accordance with GAAP. Hosting today's call are Rob Wiesenthal, Founder and Chief Executive sir Blaid and Will Hayburn, Chief Financial Officer. I will now turn the call over to Rob Wiesendahl. Rob?

Speaker 1

Thank you, Robbie. Good morning, everyone. This morning, we reported record second quarter results with revenue in the June 2023 quarter increasing 71 percent to $61,000,000 versus $35,600,000 in the comparable 2022 period. We saw very strong growth across both our passenger and medical segments, a testament to the resilience of our diversified business model and the enduring value we provide to our customers. I'm pleased that this is now our 8th consecutive quarter with results ahead of our internal forecasts on all key metrics.

Speaker 1

Flight profit increased 103 percent to $10,400,000 in the June 2023 quarter versus $5,100,000 in the comparable 2022 period, representing a roughly 3 percentage point increase in our flight margin to 17% versus 14.3% in the comparable 2022 period. Adjusted EBITDA improved by $1,700,000 to negative $4,400,000 in Q2 2023 versus a negative $6,100,000 in the comparable 2022 period and demonstrates continued progress on our path to profitability. As a percentage of revenue, adjusted EBITDA margin improved by 10 percentage points to negative 7% in the June 2023 quarter versus negative 17% in the comparable 2022 period. This was driven by a significant increase in flight profit that outpaced growth both on our adjusted corporate expense and revenue. As evidenced by the quarter's results, we remain on track with our commitment to deliver a meaningful improvement in full year adjusted EBITDA in 2023 versus 2022, and we also Expect further year over year adjusted EBITDA improvement in the second half of twenty twenty three.

Speaker 1

Turning to some highlights from the quarter. In our Mena Mobility Organ Transport business, we delivered another record quarter with 99% organic growth, Driven by hospital wins, continued expansion with existing hospitals and strong end market growth, we remain very bullish on the outlook for MedImmobility, particularly as advances in organ preservation and perfusion technology continue to increase the size of our addressable market, both in terms of the number of organs being transplanted as well as the distance organs can travel in order to get from the organ donor to the transplant recipient. We believe this is a megatrend that is in the early innings and could support multiple years of above trend market growth, which is consistent with what we are seeing both in public data and amongst our own customers. To give a recent example, During the quarter, we were proud to provide air transport and logistics services to our partners at Mass General Hospital and Paragonix Technologies, A leader in organ preservation technology, this supported a record breaking transplant case in which a donor heart traveled over 2,506 nautical miles from Juneau, Alaska to Boston, Massachusetts. This mission set the record for the longest distance a donor heart has ever traveled to a recipient.

Speaker 1

With more than 20 aircraft, 100% dedicated to Blade with 24 hours, 7 day a week coverage and many more available through our Asset Light platform, we believe we have built the most reliable and cost effective national network for organ transportation in the United States, helping to deliver thousands of organs every year. Moving on to our passenger business, Short distance delivered another quarter of significant growth with revenue up 75% driven by our acquisitions in Europe and growth across our short distance route network. In our Blade Airport service, which provides passengers with the ability to book individual seats on 5 minute flights between Manhattan and New York area airports, Revenue grew by approximately 65% compared to the same period last year, making it the fastest growing product in our passenger portfolio. This growth was fueled by a 40% increase in seats flown in the Q2 of 2023 versus the comparable prior year period, combined with double digit improvement in average revenue per seat. A notable highlight is that over half our unique airport passengers this quarter We're first time Blade Flyers, highlighting the strength and efficiency of our marketing and customer acquisition efforts.

Speaker 1

Furthermore, during this past quarter, our longest running Blade Airport route connecting the Westside of Manhattan and JFK was profitable for the first time, giving us confidence that the investments we're making in the service and schedule continue to pay off while building our loyal urban air mobility flyer base. With respect to recent trends in Blade Airport, we are very encouraged by the continued strong passenger growth and pricing trends we have seen thus far in the Q3. Our customers see the value in this product as evidenced by our continued growth in average revenue per seat, which has been above $300 in recent weeks as more of our flyers choose from upgraded options And fare classes, which we continue to optimize within our on demand based pricing model. Meanwhile, our partnership with JetBlue continues to gain traction. Nearly 1 year after launch, we are pleased to see the benefits in full force.

Speaker 1

In recent weeks, we've consistently seen JetBlue drive more than 100 flyers to Blade Airport per week. This success highlights Moving to Blade Europe. During the Q2, we introduced thousands of European and international passengers to the Blade brand and welcome them to our new terminals in Monaco, Nice and Cannes. From a market standpoint, we did notice that travel patterns in our is moving slower than we had planned, which combined with lower fleet availability due to aircraft maintenance delays has added to our integration and operating costs in the region. We will discuss the financials in more detail, but we remain committed to the long term opportunity to grow our business in Europe.

Speaker 1

In the short term, we are adapting to this market environment by focusing on what we can control, dynamically adjusting our pricing model and coordinating our integration work to enjoy the cost Positive feedback and reception from European passengers who've experienced the Blade Brands. Their response reinforces our dedication to provide an exceptional service for every blade passenger worldwide. Now on the topic of electric vertical aircraft or EVA For what is also known as eVTOL, it has been an eventful few months for the industry, with perhaps the most notable development being the release of the FAA's Advanced Air Mobility or AAM implementation plan in July, which provides for the gradual introduction of EVA into our airspace with the goal of reaching scale operations in 1 or more cities by 2028. We believe this timeline is both credible And achievable and most importantly, believe this approach is perfectly aligned with Blade's strategy focused on establishing Exclusive passenger terminals at existing heliports and airports in the most active air mobility corridors operating around the world today. Today, we have 16 exclusive passenger terminals around the world that service existing rotorcraft today as well as EVA In the future, we believe this presence creates a significant competitive mode for Blade and even once EVA is certified in the future, As new EVA infrastructure will take considerable time for local and regulatory approvals and frankly on a time line the market has not yet considered.

Speaker 1

So that ends our recently announced agreement in May to operate and revitalize the Newport Hell stop in Jersey City, New Jersey gives access to one of the largest and most successful mixed use communities on the Hudson River Waterfront. As part of the agreement, we launched a pilot program for charter flights and are analyzing the viability of the first ever scheduled by the seat service between This New Jersey heli stop in New York area airports and heliports. Meanwhile, on the international front, we are excited to announce Significant extension of our partnership with Yves Air Mobility as unveiled at the 54th International Paris Air Show in June. We are taking the first steps to transforming our transportation in Europe, starting with France. Our collaboration with EVE aims to integrate their state of the art electric vertical aircraft into Blade's expansive European route network subject to the necessary regulatory approvals and certifications.

Speaker 1

This alliance with Eve is a testament to Blade's commitment to being equipment agnostic. By working together with our industry partners, we intend to usher in a new era of Safe, quiet and sustainable air travel, enhancing connectivity and mobility in all of our major regions. With that, I'll turn the call over to Will.

Speaker 2

Thank you, Rob. I'll walk through a few highlights from our business segments in the second quarter. We'll start with Where revenue increased 99 percent to $34,400,000 in the Q2 of 2023 versus $17,200,000 in the comparable 2022. Notably, revenue increased 29% sequentially in the Q2 of 2023 versus the Q1 of 2023. Given our acquisition of Trinity Air Medical was completed in September of 2021, all of the growth this quarter and for the full year 2023 is organic.

Speaker 2

Approximately half of this quarter's growth was driven by the addition of new customers, with the remainder driven by growth with existing clients, as well as strong overall market growth. To serve this growing demand, we've continued to add to our dedicated aircraft network With minimal increases in fixed cost and continued high ROI given our asset light model, this has resulted in slight profit and EBITDA growth Significantly outpacing revenue growth, as evidenced by this quarter, in which medical flight profit increased by $3,100,000 were 118 percent to $5,700,000 in the current quarter versus $2,600,000 in Q2 2022. Medical segment adjusted EBITDA was $3,000,000 in the current quarter, an increase of $1,900,000 or 172 percent versus $1,100,000 in the comparable 2022 period. This remarkable performance reflects revenue growth, improved pricing and the strong operational leverage of our cost base. With respect to the forward outlook in Medical, it's worth noting that our revenue increase this Quarter was higher than the approximate 20% sequential growth we previously anticipated.

Speaker 2

A portion of the incremental growth versus our expectations was attributable to revenue from one specific transplant center that we are supporting on a temporary basis, which we do not expect to continue. As a result, we expect Q3 2023 medical revenue to be similar to 2nd quarter levels, which equates to high double digit year over year growth, followed by a return to single digit sequential growth in the 4th quarter. Turning to our passenger business. In Short distance revenues were up 75 percent to $19,200,000 in the Q2 of 2023 versus $11,000,000 in the comparable 2022 period. Growth was driven by our acquisition of Blade Europe, which closed on September 1, 2022, significant volume and pricing growth in our Blade Airport business and strong growth across our U.

Speaker 2

S. Short distance portfolio. On a pro form a basis, short distance revenue increased 5% versus the prior year Q2, including results from acquisitions in both periods and adjusting for currency translation. A few highlights from specific short distance products. Our Northeast leisure markets continue to see pricing elasticity, benefiting from higher passenger volume, utilization and margins.

Speaker 2

In our New York Airport business, we saw another quarter of significant passenger and revenue per seat growth. Airport by the seat revenue in the Q2 of 2023 increased approximately 65% versus the comparable 2022 period, driven by strong volume and double digit pricing growth. Kuwait Airport is our fastest growing passenger product line and we continue to expect this We saw a slight decline in industry wide helicopter activity across our key European destinations, partially driven by new landing volume restrictions in CentraPay. In addition, our integration of the 3 separate entities we acquired is moving more slowly than anticipated. Integration issues coupled with lower fleet availability due to maintenance delays have led to lower volumes and lower than expected flight profit margins as we have not yet fully optimized use of the fleet for maximum potential.

Speaker 2

Amidst this backdrop, we expect improvement in the performance of the business Southern Europe is one of the top 3 consumer helicopter markets in the world. We fully expect it to be a long term revenue and profitability driver for our passenger business. Passenger segment flight profit increased by $2,200,000 or 87 percent to $4,600,000 in the Q2 of 2023 from $2,500,000 in the same period of 2022. The increase was attributable primarily to the acquisition of Playdate Europe, which closed in September 2022, increased volumes and average seat pricing for our New York Airport transfer service, increased volumes of Northeast helicopter charters and growth in our Northeast Commuter products. Passenger segment adjusted EBITDA was negative $2,100,000 in the Q2 of 2023 versus negative $1,100,000 in the prior year period.

Speaker 2

The increased loss versus the prior year primarily reflects our start up results in Blade Europe and the establishment of a performance based short term incentive plan, partially offset by an improvement in profitability across our U. S. Short distance portfolio. On the corporate expenses front, our cost efficiency program is showing meaningful results as adjusted unallocated corporate expenses and software development, which relates to the overall Blade shared services platform, decreased 12% in Q2 2023 versus the prior year period despite our significant growth. This performance reflects significant cost savings measures taken across the business, partially offset by the establishment of a short term incentive plan for our corporate employees and a further effort to accelerate our transition to overall corporate profitability.

Speaker 2

Let's turn now to a few highlights from our consolidated results. We're very pleased with our flight profits this quarter, which increased 103 percent to $10,400,000 in Q2 2023 versus $5,100,000 in the prior year period, well ahead of our already strong top line growth. We saw this growth despite the ongoing ramp of Blade Airport, which continued to operate below breakeven in the quarter as we are rapidly growing the business. Absent the Blade Airport ramp up, We estimate that flight margin would have been approximately 100 basis points higher in the Q2 of 2023, which is an improvement from a 150 basis points to 200 basis point drag and the comparable prior year period. Looking ahead to the Q3 of 2023, we expect to see a sequential improvement in flight profit and flight margin relative Let's turn now to corporate expenses, which includes software development, general and administrative and selling and marketing expenses.

Speaker 2

When adjusting for non cash and non recurring items, our adjusted corporate expenses totaled $14,800,000 in the Q2 of 2023, an increase of approximately 32% versus the Q2 of 2022. This was largely driven by the completion of our European acquisitions And it compares favorably to a total revenue increase of 71% and a flight profit improvement of 103%, resulting in adjusted corporate expense as a percentage of revenues declining to 24% of revenue in the Q2 of 2023 versus 32% in the prior year period. The sequential results are even more impressive with adjusted corporate expense this quarter approximately flat With Q1 2023, despite 35 percent sequential growth in revenue and 45% sequential growth in flight profit from Q1 2023 to Q2 'twenty three. We are pleased to see that Blade's underlying operational platform is creating economic leverage and we continue to look for opportunities to optimize our cost structure to drive further operating expense leverage. As we look to the Q3 of 2023, We expect total adjusted corporate expenses to increase by a high single digit percentage relative to the $14,800,000 expensed in the Q2 of 2023.

Speaker 2

This is driven primarily by typical seasonal headcount and marketing spend, while it will continue to improve as a percentage of revenues. Adjusted EBITDA in the Q2 of 2023 was a loss of $4,400,000 representing a $1,700,000 improvement versus a loss of $6,100,000 in the comparable prior year period. Notably, adjusted EBITDA as a percentage of revenue improved to negative 7% in the Q2 from negative 17% in the comparable prior year period. This outcome was a result of the strong revenue and flight profit growth, which significantly outpaced growth in adjusted corporate expense. We expect the continued growth in cost efficiencies will lead to further year over year improvement in adjusted EBITDA in the second half of the year.

Speaker 2

With respect to our balance sheet, we continue to have 0 debt and approximately $170,000,000 in cash and short term securities as of the end of the Q2 of 2023. With that, I'll turn it back over to Rob for a few closing remarks.

Speaker 1

Thanks, Will. In short, we are proud of the work the team did to deliver standing second quarter results and we look forward to building on this significant momentum in the second half of the year. Before turning to Q and A, I want to take a moment to discuss an aspect Our cash preservation strategy has been noticed by some third party financial information firms. It relates to our automatic sell to Cover mechanism for the vesting of employee restricted stock units or RSUs. The automatic sell to cover mechanism is designed to fulfill our obligations to Hold taxes on RSUs awarded to our employees upon vesting.

Speaker 1

When RSUs vest, employees are liable for taxes on the value of the shares received. To ensure compliance with tax regulations, we facilitate the automatic sale of a portion of the vested RSUs to cover their tax liabilities. It's crucial to emphasize that these sales are solely for tax purposes with proceeds paid directly to tax authorities and are not indicative of management sentiment towards the company's performance of the stock. In fact, we as an organization have elected to utilize the sell to cover method to minimize using our cash to fund tax payments, which we believe is fiscally responsible. Please remember this if you notice reports of employee stock sales in the future.

Speaker 1

As always, We remain laser focused on driving profitable growth, innovation and delivering exceptional performance for our customers and our shareholders. Thank you for all your continued support. With that, I will turn it over to Ravi for questions. Thanks, Rob. Before we open the line to calls from the analyst community, We want to address some of the questions received from shareholders on the Q and A platform that was launched last week.

Speaker 1

We received a number of excellent questions and will combine those that address similar themes. Our first question from Andreas S. Is whether the success of Blade in Urban Air Mobility is contingent on government regulation And whether Blade is in active conversations with governments. Thanks for the question, Andreas. Obviously, aviation is one of the most Highly regulated industries in the entire world.

Speaker 1

And so, of course, government regulation plays a significant role in our industry. In particular, regulators will decide when it's safe for passengers to utilize the new quiet and emission free electric vertical aircraft or EVA. These EVA are being developed by several companies, many of which are partnered with Blade. However, Blade's approach is quite different from the others in the advanced air mobility Based in 2 ways that are very relevant to your question. First, Blade is focused on markets and geographies that work and can grow today Using conventional aircrafts, we do believe that the introduction of EVA will result in more places to land, which will increase our addressable market, But our business is healthy and growing with conventional aircraft using our numerous exclusive passenger terminals throughout the world.

Speaker 1

In the meantime, while we wait for government regulators to finish this work, we continue building our business. 2, our manufacturer agnostic approach means we aren't dependent on government approval of any specific EVA. We'll wait and see which aircraft are most appropriate and reliable for our medical and passenger businesses. And in fact, we expect to utilize many different EVA alongside conventional aircraft depending on the mission requirements we have for all our businesses across the globe. Rob, we had a similar question around the government's role in Structure, any thoughts there?

Speaker 1

This is quite timely. As I mentioned earlier, the FAA just released a blueprint for urban air mobility in July and it outlines a Gradual transition to EVA utilizing existing air traffic control systems and infrastructure. This approach Truly validates our unique strategy that we've had from day 1, focusing on our exclusive blade terminals at existing heliports and airports in the most Active air mobility quarters operating around the world today. As I previously mentioned, future new EVA infrastructure We'll take considerable time for local and regulatory approvals and we do not think many new entrants fully appreciate this fact. Given our combination of our technology platform, brand, customer base and exclusive terminal infrastructure, No company is better positioned to enable the gradual transition of today's air mobility flyers from helicopters to EVA, which is a very The next question is from Brandon S.

Speaker 1

Would Blade consider an acquisition or merger with an EVA or drone company to expand into different adjacent avenues. Will, do you want to take that one?

Speaker 2

Sure. Thanks for the question. Look, we are economic animals. So we're constantly exploring opportunities that align with our strategic objectives and create value for our shareholders. But as Rob mentioned earlier today, as an independent, we believe we have a significant competitive advantage and our manufacturer agnostic approach and that we're not dependent on any one aircraft design being suitable for all of our needs, nor are we subject to the risk of a sole OEM experiencing rollout delays.

Speaker 2

Today, we use a wide variety of rotorcraft and fixed wing aircraft depending on the mission requirements. And we know our customers appreciate our unique ability to provide them with the right aircraft for their specific use case. Additionally, from an acquisition standpoint, our focus remains on profitable businesses that will generate immediate returns for our investors. So We will be cautious about investing in experimental technologies with long or questionable payback periods. Our goal is to ensure that any strategic move we make aligns with our commitment to accelerating the transition to profitability, while delivering sustainable growth and value to our shareholders.

Speaker 1

The next question is from William Kaye. What are some short and long term goals Blade is focused on to achieve profitability and to remain as the dominant force of the

Speaker 2

Great question. And I think this quarter really demonstrated the operating leverage of the Blade platform And you see it with flight profit growth exceeding revenue growth and our total adjusted corporate expenses continuing to shrink as a percentage of revenues. And in fact, if you just look at the platform specific costs, the adjusted unallocated corporate and software development expenses, They actually decreased on a dollar basis year over year. Meanwhile, medical was particularly impressive, 172 percent segment adjusted EBITDA growth year over year on just 99% revenue growth showing off the leverage that we get from the platform. In passenger, we still saw continued progress with airport as passenger growth and seat price growth led to our 1st full quarter flight profit for the route between JFK and the West Side of Manhattan.

Speaker 2

So in short, our goal is to continue doing all of this and drive the rapid revenue growth while maintaining the discipline we've shown around costs. And this is the combination that ultimately is going to

Speaker 1

bring us to overall corporate profitability. The final question is from William Kaye. Since Blade is recognized by many as an upper level brand servicing the rich with services like weekend rides to the Hamptons, What is Blade's strategy and marketing efforts on acquiring middle income customers to use Blade for services like flying from Manhattan to JFK? Thanks for your question, William. If you take a look at our Blade Airport business, specifically flights between Manhattan and JFK Or New York airport.

Speaker 1

The most powerful message we focus on is the fact that we've broken the Uber Black barrier. Our airport pricing, which starts as $195 routinely beats Uber Black pricing and often UberX as well. And with the purchase of a $7.95 airport pass, flyers can actually fly to or from the airports for as little as $95 We have done a very great job hammering home the point that BELAYDE is not an indulgence. It is simply faster And more and a more enjoyable way to get to or from the airport with pricing that's competitive with ground transportation. And in fact, we've seen meaningful success By advertising on the Uber app platform at the time when people are booking car rides to the airport, I enjoyed tremendous conversion of people who normally take ground transport to Blade and we continue thinking of innovative ways To get to that consumer and to hammer home that point once again that this is not a product for the rich.

Speaker 1

In fact, when we take a look at our data, The associate demographic information that we have shows us that people, whether business or leisure travelers from all income classes are starting Now we will open the call for questions from analysts and investors on the call today. Reporters should send inquiries to me directly. Operator, we're now ready for analyst questions.

Operator

Thank you. At this time, we'll conduct the question and answer session. Our first question comes from Jason Helfstein with Oppenheimer. Your line is open.

Speaker 3

Hi, thanks. A few questions. 1st, can AirPort be accretive to overall gross profit next year? Would you plan to reinvest the upside in route and schedule expansion? And then just broadly, how are you thinking about gross margin next year?

Speaker 3

Can we assume kind of slow and steady improvement in overall Gross margin each year, that's question 1. Question 2, you did talk about kind of some of the headwinds in Europe. Maybe help us How are you thinking about, how is it tracking for the full year versus what you previously expected? And then just the contingent payment was in G and A, I just wanted you to confirm that.

Speaker 2

Jason, Will here. Thanks for the questions. On the airport side, the unit economics Are really good. As you know, we breakeven at about 2.5 out of 6 seats sold. So if you got to The average utilization that we have in our mature routes, you would have overall flight margin that's the same or better And what we see in some of our other products.

Speaker 2

Now it's a two way product, so that's why we set up the unit economics the way they are a little bit actually lower breakeven than we see in some of our mature routes. So I think the answer is once we get that utilization where we want, it should be accretive to gross profit. And I think this quarter showed a lot Progress because the Westside to JFK route was actually profitable for the first time. So we're moving in the right direction. Higher for the quarter.

Speaker 2

Yes, for the quarter. And I think that in particular, we talked about it being a 100 basis point drag on overall gross margins, airport as a whole this quarter. So You see the potential to have at least that much improvement if you take the airport drag away. And then there's some other businesses, we talk about medical As we onboard new customers, that will contribute to better gross margins over time. It takes a little bit of time for us to move the supply around.

Speaker 2

So I think you got a lot of Tailwinds on the margin side going into next year. And Jason, one quick thing on airport, because

Speaker 1

there are only a fixed number of time slots in any given day to fly, The fact that we're being reported growing at 65% in the quarter versus last year, it's the best growing passenger business we have. You can see that utilization really kind of Increasing

Speaker 2

rapidly. And then just in terms of the expectation on Europe, as we talked about, Integration is going a little slower than we hoped. We think we're making good progress, but it's probably going to be closer to breakeven this year. We don't break it out separately, but versus our expectation that's kind of where we think it's headed for the full year this year.

Speaker 1

And then the Last payment last question was just on the contingent

Speaker 2

payment. Yes, the contingent payment is all related to Trinity. That's just kind of our best Yes. So what we might have to pay the portion related to the first half of the year and this last year of the earn out. So after the year 2023, There's no more earn out for Trinity.

Speaker 1

And one more thing on Europe, when you take a look at the full year, obviously July August is a huge part of their business with kind of San Tropez and then basically moving up a lot of the all the resort business. So those numbers are starting to come in and I think we'll have a much better View of it this coming quarter.

Speaker 3

Thank you.

Operator

One moment for our next question. Our next question comes from Hillary Cananda with Deutsche Bank. Your line is open.

Speaker 4

Hi. Thanks for taking my question. So you recently announced the revitalization of the Newport Hellasdaq. Could you talk about how the pilot program for the charter flights are going and what you're looking at in order to start the by the seat operation and whether or not you're looking at any other new markets or Helicoport?

Speaker 1

Sure. I mean this was an incredible task because this is the first heliport really open in decades. This is only a couple in the New York area that is, this is only basically a couple of football fields away from Manhattan. So it's quite useful for people flying from New Jersey to airports, also to the city. We control it, we operate it, and it's a lot of mixed use both commercial and residential relatively high net and not high income as well for our flyers.

Speaker 1

But we're being extremely careful starting out with Charters, we have a pretty good take up rate right now by a lot of developers who have a marketing plan that's going to be going to a lot of the residents in the area and employees. But now that we're seeing profitability on the airport side, we're going to be extremely careful about what at what time we're going to be introducing any kind of By the Sea Route and will probably be bundled in the sense that they'll be utilizing aircraft that are already coming back from Say Kennedy Airport, and we're looking at things like stops and things, anything where we could mitigate any type of Impact of any kind of low utilization. So we're looking for a very low risk approach when it comes to the buy the seat business, if in fact we end up doing it. But We have other heliports we're looking at relighting, and I think the fact that we've now been doing this for 8 years, we're just really light years ahead of anybody. And as you read in the AAM report from FAA.

Speaker 1

The FAA is saying when it comes to EVA, existing heliports and airports are going to be where people are landing. And I think the number of exclusive Hellaforce we have, which is 16 worldwide, is a huge competitive moat.

Speaker 4

Got it. Thank you. And then just in Europe, it sounds like there are just different items just driving the activity. Could you just talk about like what are some of the more permanent issues? Like it sounds like the new landing volume restriction, that's Probably a little more permanent, but like the fleet availability that sounds like it's probably more temporary and that might be able to be fixed Pretty shortly, kind of if you could just provide a little more color on like what's having more of an impact, what's more temporary and what's more coming in and what's been done about it?

Speaker 4

Thank you.

Speaker 1

Yes, I think there are a couple of things. To deal with the landing issues, which are really prAna Only in the San Tropez side. There have been some restrictions placed on landings. However, when it's really more about the ones that are close to The beach and maybe there are other ones that are 15 minutes away. So it's really more of a redistribution of where people are landing.

Speaker 1

And I would say the attractiveness of those, the ones where we do have a lot of capacity are pretty good. You're still beating a couple hours of Traffic coming from Neese or Cannes. So we're not overly concerned with it. And then also we're identifying new landing zones every day And adding them. So the restrictions are really about the number of flights per landing zone and we're increasing the number of landing zones.

Speaker 1

So it's not exactly When you see when you read about our landing zones or there's some restrictions, it doesn't impact your ability to acquire new landing zones and in fact maybe Closer to where people want to go, so they're only going to drive such. Also, I think it's important we talked about the integration being a bit delayed. There were some supply chain issues in terms of the winter schedule of maintenance for these aircraft and they're typically maintained after the That took a lot longer and as a result, in this quarter, we did not have a number of aircraft that would have optimized our economics I'm happy to say those helicopters are back online and we hopefully should enjoy the benefits of it. Again, as I mentioned in the last question, July, August is critical and we're still the initial indications for July are good. We got to wait for August And we'll see how they are, but we're trying to be as conservative as we can.

Speaker 1

The integration has taken longer. But again, when you think about the 3 biggest Markets in the world, Southern Europe is next to what we have in New York, the most important And we're in there. We have a market share of 3 of the 4 major companies and we're going to get this right. It's just taking a little bit longer than we expected on the integration

Speaker 4

Got it. Thank you. This is really helpful. Thank you very much.

Operator

One moment for our next question. Our next question comes from Bill Peterson with JPMorgan. Your line is open.

Speaker 5

Yes. Hi, good morning. Thanks for taking the questions. First question on the short distance. Obviously, airport really drove the growth.

Speaker 5

Trying to get a sense for What the growth rate would have been, I guess, without the impact of Europe? And then maybe just similarly, you didn't really talk about Canada, I realized I believe Canada is But any sort of color you can provide on sort of year on year trend or quarterly trends here in the second quarter?

Speaker 2

Sure, Bill. Thanks for the questions. On short distance, we don't break it out that way exactly, but I would say If you took Europe out of both quarters, the growth in short distance would have been closer to around 20%. So we're really happy with how All the other businesses are growing and obviously airport is a huge part of that. As it relates to Canada, you're right, this is a seasonally low Quarter for us.

Speaker 2

So we were happy to see kind of some single digit growth in the off season on the top line in Canada. But I think moving forward, the initiatives We're focused on as we get back into the busier season are really trying to drive more demand using Blade from consumers. If you recall that business is heavily B2B and so we think there's a big opportunity Both just with the existing transportation products they have, also attacking the tourism angle in Vancouver as well, which It's definitely starting to come back with cruise ships coming back in. So that's a big initiative for us as we head into the bigger season there.

Speaker 5

Yes, great. Thanks for that. And then kind of a further question on flight margins for Meta Mobility in particular. I believe you talked in the past somewhere in the maybe mid to high teens range would be the right way to think about it. You did basically at 17%.

Speaker 5

Trying to get a sense on where could the upper bound be? Presumably, you have some opportunities with your existing customers to drive that higher, Maybe less so if it was you're trying to penetrate with new customers, but how should we think about the trends on that and where's the upper bound on the slight margins there?

Speaker 2

Yes. I think 15% to 20% is the right range to talk about getting towards 20% As we have longer tenure with the customers and the way we get there is twofold. On the one hand, we can Optimize our dedicated aircraft fleet, so that aircraft are closer to our customers, it saves them repositioning, costs less, but also allows us to generate Higher margin on those flights, so it's kind of a win win for everybody and we can optimize the fleet. And then 2, as we start to get Scale and geographic locations, we'll do things like bring in our own License sirens SUVs to do the ground, that will allow us to get sometimes closer to 40% or 50% margins on the ground component, Which will bring that average up. So given the growth we've had both in terms of new customers, but also just in terms of Customers being able to fly more and the number of organs that are being transplanted in terms of heart, liver, lung, That growth just in the units is in the mid to high teens.

Speaker 2

If you look at the Q2 UNOS data, we're really able to weaponize that And help our customers save money and help get our margins higher in ways we never could before. So I think everything is moving in the right direction in that business.

Speaker 3

Thanks for that color.

Operator

One moment for our next question. Our next question comes from Stephen Ju with Credit Suisse, your line is open.

Speaker 5

Okay. Great. Thank you. So Rob, wondering if you can weigh in on What the updated organ preservation technology opens up in terms of business you probably could not have conducted before because maybe The donor and recipient matches needed to be local. And if you can also update us on what the typical sales cycle Looks like these days with new hospitals.

Speaker 5

Thanks.

Speaker 1

Sure. Let me just kick off and

Speaker 2

I'll turn it over to Will to take I know a portion

Speaker 1

of that question. There's no question that the market has increased dramatically for ability to Use perfusion devices and do much longer trips. And that has increased economics, there's increased usage, it can increase The viability of organ type of patients that deal with it, if you take a look at the UNOS data, this was an 18% growth this Quarter, you're going to see potentially mid double digits for the overall market. We right now are in the 20% plus range for the market. So we have a lot Growth there.

Speaker 1

The good news is that we're agnostic, so we can do use technology from any company. You probably saw our use of the Paragonix technology, which I know most of our hospitals are extremely Comfortable with and we did the world's longest Oregon flight from New York from Boston to Alaska. So that's continued to be a real growth driver. And I also want to mention that because Blade is at heart of logistics We started this with a passenger company, the ability for our staff on the ground to facilitate the use of these devices On or putting these devices into aircraft and making sure they're secured, making sure that they travel safely is a unique advantage of Blade. I'll let Will chime in here.

Speaker 1

Yes, look, it's expanding the market. It's really incredible. You see it

Speaker 2

in the Eunice data that we just talked about To Bill's question, what I would say is you see the significant growth that we have in organs. And right now, I would say around 10% of the organs that are being moved, you're using some kind of perfusion technology to enable that. And it comes from a number of different companies. So we're really excited because a lot of those organs, as you mentioned, Wouldn't have had the ability to make it to their recipient without the use of that technology and hospitals are becoming more and more aggressive And this technology is allowing them to do that successfully. So I think it's all really good news and I think Blade uniquely Has the ability to help hospitals with these slightly more complex missions and goes to your question on the sales cycle.

Speaker 2

If a hospital has mostly been doing traditional coal transport and they've been using a local provider that maybe has a couple of light Just on the certificate, that probably won't be enough airplane to do these longer trips. So it actually creates a nice entry point For Blade, when a center starts using perfusion and maybe their legacy provider of flight jets Doesn't have the right capability, doesn't have the right size aircraft, doesn't have the range for what they need to do. So I think this actually could Short circuit the sales cycle a little bit for us as it creates new needs for transplant centers that they've never had before. But It's still a long sales cycle. We still work with people on a non contracted basis.

Speaker 2

We still sometimes help folks out When they're having trouble with their local providers and then they might go back to them as we talked about, we had a little bit of the growth and this quarter was driven by that. It's just all about continuing our great reputation of providing excellent service and always having a plan for those transplant centers and over time We'll continue to see what we've seen, which is slowly picking up share.

Speaker 5

Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. One moment for our next question. Our next question comes from Jon Hickman with Ladenburg. Your line is Ben?

Speaker 3

Hello.

Speaker 1

Could you talk a little

Speaker 3

bit more about this Temporary customer you had in the Med Mobility and why they just are not going to use you going forward?

Speaker 2

Yes, happy to John. We have a lot of folks That are not contracted with us that will help out from time to time. Usually, it's not a big number. It just happened to be a big number with one specific customer This quarter, so most of our businesses with folks that are going to give us essentially a first call for every trip they need to take. But when folks And they're not somebody we've worked with in the past.

Speaker 2

We're always willing to help out and we did that for somebody that had some dedicated aircraft on

Speaker 1

the ground that they continued using We have obviously no long term contracts, John, with all the hospitals. And then if a hospital has their own We and then they run into some issues as Will said, we'll step in there, but there are a lot of people who like to kind of keep that in house

Speaker 3

Okay. Can you update us on the number of contracted hospitals and transplant centers

Speaker 2

So it's probably not the best Metric to focus on in terms of the growth, the size of the transplant centers can be highly variable. And there's also kind of another dynamic going on where we have some customers that are organ procurement organizations rather than transplant centers and They might be representing a set of constituent

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Earnings Conference Call
Blade Air Mobility Q2 2023
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