Overview of Blade Air Mobility

Blade Air Mobility, Inc. (“Blade”) is a company that provides air transportation and logistics services in the United States and Europe. The company operates in two main segments - Passenger and Medical.

The Passenger segment includes short-distance helicopter and seaplane flights, as well as private jet charter services. The Medical segment focuses on transporting human organs for transplant and providing related logistics services.

Blade has an asset-light business model, meaning it primarily uses aircraft and operators owned and managed by third parties. This allows Blade to be flexible and scale its operations without the overhead of owning a large fleet. The company also owns a small number of fixed-wing aircraft dedicated to the Medical segment to improve reliability and cost-effectiveness.

Blade’s proprietary technology platform helps it manage flights, track shipments, and provide a seamless experience for passengers and medical customers. The company is positioning itself to transition to newer electric vertical aircraft (EVA) technology in the future, which it expects will reduce costs and environmental impact.

Financial Performance

For the three months ended March 31, 2025, Blade reported total revenue of $54.3 million, up 5.4% from the same period in 2024. This growth was driven by a 59.9% increase in revenue from the Jet and Other product line, which includes private jet charters.

Revenue from the Short Distance passenger flights decreased by 5.4%, primarily due to the discontinuation of operations in Canada. However, this was offset by increased activity in Europe. The Medical segment revenue was relatively flat, declining slightly by 0.2%.

Blade’s cost of revenue increased by 2.3% to $42.3 million, but as a percentage of revenue it decreased from 80% to 78%. This improvement was driven by operational leverage in the European Short Distance business, better performance in jet charters, and the discontinuation of the lower-margin Canada operations.

The company’s general and administrative expenses increased by 0.6% to $17.3 million, mainly due to higher costs associated with Blade’s owned aircraft fleet. Selling and marketing expenses decreased by 32.6% to $1.4 million as the company reduced media spending and staff-related costs in this area.

Blade reported a net loss of $3.5 million for the quarter, an improvement from a $4.2 million loss in the same period of 2024. The company’s Adjusted EBITDA, a non-GAAP metric that excludes certain expenses, improved from a loss of $3.5 million to a loss of $1.2 million.

Segment Performance

The Passenger segment saw an 18.5% increase in revenue to $18.4 million, driven by growth in the Jet and Other product line. Passenger Adjusted EBITDA improved from a loss of $2.7 million to a profit of $0.1 million, due to higher revenue and lower costs as a percentage of sales.

The Medical segment revenue was relatively flat at $35.9 million, down 0.2% from the prior year period. Medical Adjusted EBITDA decreased by 7.1% to $4.1 million, primarily due to lower utilization of Blade’s owned aircraft fleet.

Liquidity and Capital Resources

As of March 31, 2025, Blade had total liquidity of $120.0 million, consisting of $34.8 million in cash and cash equivalents and $85.2 million in short-term investments. The company believes this provides sufficient funds to meet its operational needs for at least the next 12 months.

Blade has certain contractual commitments, including $4.9 million in minimum flight purchase guarantees for 2025 and $6.1 million for 2026, as well as $1.6 million and $2.1 million in operating lease obligations for those respective years. The company also has non-cancellable commitments for cloud services and other items.

In March 2024, Blade’s board authorized a $20 million stock repurchase program, of which $19.8 million remains available as of March 31, 2025. The company intends to fund any future repurchases with existing cash.

Outlook and Risks

Blade’s long-term growth and profitability will depend on several key factors:

1. Attracting and Retaining Passenger Fliers: The company must continue to cost-effectively acquire new passengers and keep existing ones engaged, as they have many transportation options to choose from.

2. Maintaining Competitiveness in Medical Segment: Blade faces competition in the organ transportation market and must provide reliable, cost-effective service to retain and grow its medical customer base.

3. Securing Aircraft and Operators: Blade relies on third-party aircraft and operators, and disruptions or cost increases in this area could impact the business.

4. Developing and Adopting EVA Technology: The transition to quieter, emission-free electric vertical aircraft is critical to Blade’s long-term strategy, but the timeline and commercial viability of this technology remains uncertain.

5. Expanding into New Geographic Markets: Blade’s passenger growth plan involves entering new urban areas, which carries risks around regulatory approvals, infrastructure, and customer adoption.

Overall, Blade appears to be making progress in improving its financial performance, with growth in the Passenger segment and cost efficiencies in both business lines. However, the company faces several operational and strategic challenges that it will need to navigate in the coming years to achieve long-term success.