A new drone delivery service that promises to halve the time needed to transport medical supplies between hospitals in Malta is set to be launched within weeks, according to the company behind it.

Flying ZERO plans to use a fleet of drones to deliver goods around the country.

The service will initially connect St James Hospitals in Żejtun and Sliema, with founder and CEO Alexander Esslinger saying the journey will take just seven minutes.

That’s significantly faster than the 20-minute drive, which can be much longer during times of traffic congestion.  

The company completed its first test flight in Ta’ Qali last summer and plans to conduct its final test flight before the transport authorities by the end of October. Transport Malta will need to give the final authorisation after the test flight for the company to proceed further.

The company will fly between St James Hospitals in Żejtun and Sliema at launch. Photo: YouTube/SKYThinkTank

Esslinger, a former commercial pilot, explained that the demonstration will involve delivering “lifesaving” medical supplies between the two private hospitals. He added that the company hopes to begin commercial operations within days of the final test.

The company, which plans to start with four drones capable of carrying up to three kilogrammes over distances of 120km, has ambitious expansion plans.

Esslinger said they aim to extend services to Gozo and eventually other destinations like Sicily and transport heavier cargo with future models able to transport up to 15 kilogrammes over 50km.

“We can quickly respond and deliver spare parts... And this is not only to Malta, we’re not talking only land-to-land delivery; we also have plans for shore-to-ship and ship-to-ship,” he said, pointing to fuel samples and medical supplies as examples of items that could be carried to vessels in Maltese waters.

Esslinger said while the company was eyeing commercial delivery services marketed directly to consumers, for now such a service was not cost-effective due to the company’s small size and unfeasible due to “regulatory challenges”.

“For now, having just two locations to connect, we can clearly define a flight path,” he said, stressing the company’s route between St James Hospitals had been agreed with the authorities in advance, involving environmental assessments and consultation with groups including Birdlife.

Esslinger said that sending an item by drone within four hours will cost €39 at launch while sending an item immediately will cost €69 but noted that studies by accounting firms suggested the price could be brought down as low as €5 in the future.

The company operated test flights in Malta last year. Photo: YouTube/SKYThinkTank

Keen to stress the company’s green credentials, Esslinger said the company will charge its drones using energy generated from solar panels at launch sites in Żejtun and Sliema, which, he said, should be able to store energy for 48 hours of operations.

The company estimates it will be able to save more than four kilograms of CO2 emissions for every 35km flown using its small class of drones. But, with drones flying overhead, equipped with cameras used to pilot them, privacy concerns are likely to be raised. 

Confirming that footage of flights will be recorded for “insurance purposes”, Esslinger stressed it “will be deleted if the flight is successful”, adding people did not complain about CCTV systems on buses or in other public places.

“It’s really for possible investigations... and for safety that we have the recordings on board... once we are operational, we will provide footage of our test flights on our website so that everybody can see what we see,” he said.

“They are commercial drones; they are not for surveillance.”

Responding to concerns of drones encountering issues during flight and falling to earth, potentially with safety implications, Esslinger stressed the company was an operator and not the manufacturer of the drones.

“This question would be addressed to somebody who is prototyping, making test flights... we are an operator like Air Malta; we use technology, aircraft which are already tested and certified by authorities.”

Esslinger said the routes used by the company’s drones had been planned to avoid high-density population areas, buildings and other hazards.

“What we do is look where we fly and what is the ground risk; are we flying over fields? Is the area populated? Are there farms and cities?”

Esslinger says his drones could be used to deliver tools to sites across Malta. Photo: YouTube/SKYThinkTank

He said that, while the fastest route was a straight line between two points, the company’s flight paths looked more like a “zigzag” and had been agreed with transport authorities in advance, adding the company would avoid flying in adverse weather conditions.

“We spent two years here making it safe... [to be] the first aerial delivery service here in Malta.”

St James Hospital confirmed the partnership between the two companies, while a spokesperson for Birdlife confirmed the NGO had been consulted and had warned the drone company about the danger of collisions with birds, among other concerns.

Transport Malta will need to give the final authorisation after the test flight for the company to proceed further.

The company is among those taking part in Malta Enterprise’s Startup Festival Malta event at the Malta Fairs and Conventions Centre today and tomorrow.