Drone Delivery Canada prolongs, widens Edmonton airport activity

Drone Delivery Canada (DDC) has announced the extension of its ground-breaking UAV transportation activities from and around Edmonton International Airport – which at its launch was among the world’s first drone services at a major aviation platform, according to the firm, and the first in Canada.

Toronto-based DDC said it has signed new accords that will prolong and expand its drone delivery services at Edmonton’s airport, which it initially inaugurated in late 2021 and began operating commercially in May 2022. 

Under the new agreements valued at $310,000, the company will oversee an additional UAV route transporting cargo between the international hub to nearby Montana First Nation health care service facilities.

In announcing the news, DDC said it will continue flying commercial packages for client Apple Express delivery service to an offloading and transfer station in an area beyond the Edmonton airport’s perimeter, which it has used since 2022. In addition, it will operate drone runs of critical supplies to a second site for Montana First Nation’s use to provide care for its primarily indigenous patients.

This second phase of the drone delivery operation builds atop the earlier DDC flight activity from the restricted airspace of Edmonton International Airport (YEG), with Air Canada Cargo acting as its commercial agent. 

Since it began nearly two years ago, the service has completed more than 2,400 flights over a total flight distance of over 6,500 km, most recently using its Canary remotely piloted aircraft (RPA) according to DDC.

The project marks another step forward in integrating drone deliveries and other services into low altitude airspaces. DDC’s expansion of its Edmonton routes to include its Montana First Nation medical client is also a broadening of its healthcare activities  – one of the fastest-growing sub-sectors in UAV transportation.

 “We are very pleased to sign these new agreements as part of the next phase of our operations at Edmonton International Airport, as well as introducing two new partners as part of the agreements,” said Steve Magirias, CEO of Drone Delivery Canada. “This next phase will enable us to further expand our delivery capabilities, showcase our Canary RPA, and explore new use cases for RPA delivery within the YEG area.”