DRONAMICS, the world’s leading middle-mile cargo drone developer and operator, today unveiled the first 3 airports in Germany that will be part of its broader European Droneport Network that now totals 38 airports in 12 European countries.
The 3 airports announced today are Paderborn-Lippstadt, Rostock–Laage, and Airport Weeze, servicing a total of 12.7 million people within a 1-hour drive of the airports and will serve as the first German droneports. DRONAMICS will operate same-day flights within the network using its proprietary DRONAMICS “Black Swan” large unmanned cargo drones, each with a capacity of 350 kg and range of up to 2,500 km, reducing time, cost, and emissions by up to 80% compared to traditional air cargo.
The airports of Paderborn-Lippstadt and Airport Weeze will both serve the state of North-Rhine Westphalia, Germany’s industrial heartland and Europe’s 3rd largest metropolitan area, with cities such as Düsseldorf, Dortmund, Mönchengladbach, Duisburg, and Essen all within 1-hour drive from any of the two airports. With its good road infrastructure connections and proximity to the Netherlands, the airport of Weeze will also service the Dutch cities of Nijmegen, Arnhem, and Venlo. The Rostock-Laage airport will be the main droneport for the seaport of Rostock, which is the 4th biggest cargo seaport in Germany, as well as for the province of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.
“With the first 3 droneports in Germany, we are unlocking the huge potential of the German market and confirming regional airport partners that can service large metropolitan areas like the Ruhr region or major logistics hubs like the Rostock port. In the coming months we’ll further expand our droneports network in Germany and Europe, and to connect more and more communities to our pan-European same-day delivery network for e-commerce, manufacturing, and pharma” says Svilen Rangelov, Co-Founder and CEO of DRONAMICS.
“We see the opportunity with DRONAMICS to pioneer an entirely new service that can significantly benefit the local economy and tap into the potential of unmanned cargo aviation by hosting one of the first droneports in Germany” – says Dr. Sebastian Papst, Managing Director of Airport Weeze.
As part of the agreements, DRONAMICS will base its standardized droneport equipment, hire and train local staff to operate and handle the unmanned drone flights. DRONAMICS operations will be filed for operational authorization under the EU’s unified drone regulations that are in force since 1st of January 2021. The first commercial flights of the same-day drone cargo services are expected to begin in 2022.
“We are welcoming our future collaboration with DRONAMICS in assisting their operations at the German regional airports,” says Stefan Mauel (Key Account Manager German Airports) from DFS Aviation Services, certified Air Navigation Service Provider for 18 locations in 6 counties worldwide including at the airports of Paderborn and Niederrhein-Weeze.
