Journalist Charlie Taylor writing for www.businesspost.ie scored a scoop this week after interviewing Ireland’s own Bobby Healy, Founder and CEO of Manna Aero or Manna Drone Delivery as the company wishes to be called now.
The latest news from the Emerald Isle is that Healy, true to his ambitious mindset, is cranking up Manna’s delivery trials by setting his eyes on Blanchardstown, a large outer suburb of Dublin with 38,000 homes covering 100,000 people.
After successfully conducting over 100,000 trials in the smaller towns of Oranmore, County Galway and Balbriggan, County Dublin, Blanchardstown is the next step up with a town housing over 180 big brand stores, restaurants and cafes across three retail parks. It is the largest shopping centre in Ireland covering 85 acres and boasts over 600 parking spaces along with 600 daily bus rides. All retail outlets will be given an opportunity to join the trial. The service begins later this year.
Healy tells Taylor, “What we’ll be doing is about five times bigger than the service we’ve been operating in Balbriggan. We’ve never done this many deliveries a day, or run as many aircraft as we are going to do in Blanchardstown, so it is a big undertaking for us.”
He continues, “Initially, we will be doing 500 flights a day with plans to get to 1,000 deliveries a day at peak, which is a greater number than is happening anywhere in the world. The new operation will be all-weather, which we haven’t done before. In addition, the aircraft we will be using carries a larger payload of 3.5kg and 30 litres of volume.”
But Healy’s ambition never rests.
After raising USD50 million since the company’s formation in 2018, Manna plans to launch further drone delivery services in 25 locations next year, of which 15 will be in Ireland. Healy estimates that between 1 million and 1.5 million people in Ireland should be able to use drone deliveries by the end of 2024.
The other 10 areas may well cover Europe. To finance this major endeavour, Healy says he will need further financing which opens the door for the company to float on the Stock Market, allowing the public to invest in Manna’s huge projected growth.
Part of Blanchardstown’s Shopping Centre
Meanwhile, Manna has partnered with Falcon AM Real Estate, the operator of the Blanchardstown Centre, to seek planning permission from Dublin City Council to repurpose an existing car park as an aerial delivery hub. The application says Manna has already informed the supportive Irish Aviation Authority about the project and received operation licences to fly drones in the area. The drones will take off from pads on the ground between 8am and 9pm, seven days a week, travelling up to 2km from base at a height of 60 metres.
Healy comments, “We haven’t signed supplier agreements yet, but are in talks with the most popular Irish restaurant and grocery brands, as well as some very well known international ones. We will also be inviting any and all local vendors to participate and sell their products to every home we fly to.”
No definite launch date has been confirmed for the delivery service, but Healy says operations would commence “in the coming months”. It is expected the trial will last for at least six months and longer if successful.
Healy remarks, “We’re a small country but one with giant suburbs, which makes it ideal for drone deliveries. It’s an expensive business, but we’re near the point where for the first time we’ll no longer be loss-making. By the end of this year, Manna will be making money on every flight it operates.” Adding, “There is no other drone company anywhere close to being profit-making outside of us.”
Ireland has become a leader in drone technology on the back of Manna’s success assisted by a helpful regulator in the Irish Aviation Authority, which introduced the world’s first drone-specific legislation.
The only competition Manna faces is Wing, a drone delivery company owned by Google’s parent company Alphabet, who set up a trial in the small town of Lusk, located about 15 miles north of Dublin city centre, late last year. It is unclear how this is faring.
Manna has developed aviation-grade drones that fly at 60km/h and deliver goods including groceries, takeaways and medicines within a 3km radius in under three minutes.
Manna drones have multiple safety systems in place, including onboard sensors. They are licensed by the Irish Aviation Authority to operate along pre-agreed flight paths that ensure they don’t come into contact with other aircraft.
For more information
(News Source: www.businesspost.ie)
