Blade Air posts 13.8% revenue growth in Q1 2024
Blade Air Mobility has announced topline growth of 13.8% to $51.5m in first quarter (Q1) results, following significant growth in the sales revenue from its medical business.
Revenue breakdown showed medical business contributed nearly 70% total to the topline. Revenue from the medical business clocked in at $36m, up 34% from the same period last year. While the medical segment saw stellar growth, revenue from the Blade’s passenger segment declined by 16% to $15.5m compared with $18.5m in the same period last year.
“This was the best quarter in company history for our medical business. We achieved record revenue and segment adjusted EBITDA, building upon our dramatic growth driven by increased trip volumes and trip distances, both from existing and newly added hospital clients,” said Rob Wiesenthal, CEO, Blade Air.
“Q1 is the seasonally lightest quarter for our short distance business. Regardless, I’m pleased to see that we’re delivering on the cost savings and profitability improvements we promised both in the passenger segment and on the corporate level.”
In addition to higher revenue growth, the company also witnessed improvements in the gross profit margin, which increased by 430 basis points to 11.4% of the revenue compared with 7.1% in the previous year.
Overall, the company reported a net loss of $4.2m, a contraction of 58.5% compared with the net loss of $10.2m in the same period last year. The company said that the improvement in the bottom line came from the back of positive adjusted EBITDA owing to an improvement in the medical business.
The company’s accounts showed that the medical flight profit margins in the first quarter improved by six points versus the prior year.
Meanwhile, the company incurred capital expenditures of $1.1m during the quarter driven primarily by the build-out of new office space in Tempe, Arizona for the medical business and investments in software development.
The company ended the first quarter with $151m in cash and short-term investments.
