Blade Air Mobility, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLDE) Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

Will Heyburn: Sure. So, Rob touched on this. The good news is we have the customers for this already. And that we’re serving all these transplant centers for heart, liver, lung already. We think they’re very pleased with our service and we’d love to be able to serve them on the kidney side as well. We do think that that’s a capability that is probably best brought on through acquisition in terms of the Next Flight Out. So, it’s something that we’re looking at. Given that we have very significant 120% growth, that I’ll remind you was all organic this quarter, we have our hands full at the moment, but we see it as a huge growth opportunity and we think our customers would appreciate kind of the one-stop shop solution we could offer if we had that Next Flight Out capability.

So, don’t have any specific timing for you on that front, but it is something we’re acutely focused on. And same is true with other critical cargo. We’re not really set up with the customer relationships for critical cargo, for example, for manufacturing. We do do some radioisotope work in Canada today, just cargo on flights that are already going. So, there’s some touch points there. But that’s probably a capability that you leverage the existing platform in terms of the operation center. So, you wouldn’t need to add a ton of cost, but you probably use acquisition to build those relationships.

Hillary Cacanando: Got it. Great. Thank you so much.

Will Heyburn: Thanks, Hillary.

Operator: Thank you. And our next question coming from the line of Stephen Ju with Credit Suisse. Your line is open.

Stephen Ju: Okay. Thank you. So, hi, Rob. I think we’ve talked in the past about how fragmented the MediMobility sector is today. So, going forward, as we’re thinking about your potential regional expansion plans, should we be baking in rollouts for both organ and consumer transport? Does a particular region have to be attractive for both segments in order for you to be thinking about regional expansion there? Thanks.

Rob Wiesenthal: Sure. Thanks for the question. Two very, very different businesses. Right now, on Passenger, we’re focused on the biggest markets in the world that are as deep as possible. We always talk about New York, which is where any company that’s looking at MediMobility is saying it’s the number one market opportunity in the world. And our goal, and I think we’re actually should get on the road achieving that goal is to have the biggest presence, the most amount of critical infrastructure, the strongest brand and the largest amount of passengers flying every single day to and from all New York area airport serving those 28 million people who are only flying between Manhattan and those airports at a price that’s competitive with Uber ground transportation.

We’re doing that today. On Medical, because of the scale of our acquisition of Trinity and MediMobility in general, we can service on a multi-modality basis whether it be by ambulance, helicopter or even jet across the United States. So, we are not bound by geographic barriers and there is no detriment from us operating MediMobility in a place that does not have passenger service. And with respect to new contracts and new geographies, it does not require incremental cost. In fact, because it is so fragmented, when we look at acquisition opportunities, outside of this kidney portion of the business, we have found that given the team that we have out with respect to sales and the infrastructure, it is a lot more cost effective for us to go out and pitch that business, win that business on long-term contract, and build that into our business as opposed to paying a multiple for our mom-and-pop operator that may have a few contracts here and there.

So, I think this kind of going at it surgically, tactically, market-by-market with our existing team is the highest ROI and most effective way for us to continue growing this business.