German drone delivery pioneer Wingcopter and Continental Drones Ltd., a subsidiary of Ghana- and Dubai-based Atlantic Trust Holding, have signed a partnership agreement to help establish drone-based delivery networks with thousands of Wingcopter drones across the African continent. These networks will dramatically improve the reliability and efficiency of existing supply chains but also help create completely new ones.
The companies today announced that Continental Drones has become a Wingcopter Authorized Partner (WAPP) for all 49 sub-Saharan countries. Over the next five years, the goal of the two partners is to deploy 12,000 Wingcopter 198, the world’s most advanced delivery drone, throughout Africa, making it the largest commercial deployment in the global delivery drone industry to date.
In many African regions, insufficient infrastructure is one of the biggest barriers to universal health coverage and economic development. Setting up large-scale drone delivery networks across African airspace will propel logistics in these countries to a new level and help build an entirely new transport framework – much faster, cheaper, more sustainable, and more efficient than the development of conventional ground-based infrastructure with all its unhealthy and climate-damaging emissions.
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Bridging the infrastructure gap through the deployment of large fleets of Wingcopter drones, even in the most remote places, will allow governments and the private sector to leapfrog inefficient infrastructure to climate-neutral, reliable, and fast logistic capabilities.
Wingcopter’s technology will be deployed to improve the livelihoods of millions of African people, for example through the on-demand delivery of medicines, vaccines, or laboratory samples but also essential goods for daily use. In addition, it has the potential to turbocharge the economic development of the countries in which the Wingcopter networks will be established by connecting communities more effectively and by creating thousands of new job opportunities to operate these delivery networks. As the Wingcopter 198 is fully electric, it contributes to a more sustainable African logistics sector and help move economies towards net zero emissions.
“Together with Wingcopter, we are committed to accelerate the development and economic integration of Africa by enabling the creation of drone-based delivery networks across the continent. With our longstanding business experience on the ground and Wingcopter’s best-in-class drone technology, these networks offer a real chance to fuel economic development and help improve the livelihood of millions. African nations show true leadership by implementing this cutting-edge technology for the better of their people and generations to come”, comments Alexander Asiedu, Founder of Continental Drones and Chairman of Atlantic Trust Holding.
Tom Plümmer, Co-Founder and CEO of Wingcopter, adds: “This agreement and trustful partnership is a real game-changer, positioning Wingcopter and Continental Drones at the top of the drone delivery industry. Wingcopter is well positioned to execute against the tremendous opportunity of drone delivery in the next decade. We are convinced that our cooperation with Alex and his Continental Drones team will unlock the African drone delivery market on a large scale, allowing us to jointly improve and save millions of lives.”
