Can drones deliver the mail?
Michael Merritt is Commercial & Growth Manager at Skyports Drone Services. Skyports Drone Services is a drone logistics company and provider and operator of eVTOL drones for cargo deliveries, survey and surveillance. The company is expert in the operation of long-range and Beyond Visual Line of Sight flight for a multitude of use cases, including ship-to-shore and maritime applications, medical and dangerous goods deliveries, and AI-driven surveys for the agriculture and infrastructure sectors. Headquartered in London, Skyports Drone Services has projects operating across four continents including Asia, North America, South America, and Europe.
At Skyports, Michael leads on strategy & operations, particularly in the area of drone deliveries. He has also worked as a flight operations engineer and pilot, gaining hundreds of hours of flight time experience and operating flights across many of Skyports Drone Services’ projects. Michael studied as an Aerospace Engineer at the University of Bristol and holds General Visual Certificates for fixed-wing and rotary drone operation.
Recently, Skyports Drone Services announced the launch of the Orkney I-Port project, a fully electric drone logistics project established in partnership with Royal Mail, the Orkney Islands Council Harbour Authority and Loganair. The project will deliver two new capabilities: daily inter-port delivery of Royal Mail items and the demonstration of shore-to-ship deliveries. The I-Port project is significant as it represents the first UK drone delivery project which can be conducted on a permanent basis under existing regulatory frameworks, a milestone made possible due to the unique landscape of Orkney.
In this episode of the Drone Radio Show, Michael talks about Skyports Drone Services, the Orkney I-Port project and how Skyports is working to create a permanent daily mail delivery service supported by drones.