This guest post about MightyFly was written by Bill Johnson.
MightyFly, developer and manufacturer of the autonomous drone called Cento announced a $50 million contract with a leading California-based healthcare diagnostics provider to deliver same-day diagnostics test kits.
The service will launch in California and expand to Nevada with plans to scale nationwide. For MightyFly, this agreement represents a pivotal moment for the eVTOL industry, demonstrating how aerial logistics is evolving from niche, single-package flights to efficient, large-scale operations.
This adds yet one more example to a growing lineup of drone delivery operations around the U.S. Today, the space is largely dominated by Wing’s partnership with Walmart, which currently runs in Northwest Arkansas and Dallas-Fort Worth with plans to expand to Atlanta, Charlotte, Houston, Orlando and Tampa. Other players include UPS Flight Forward, Zipline, Wing and DroneUp.
But whereas these flights are one route — typically to and from distribution centers like (warehouse or stores) to the customer — MightyFly promises to provide multiple stops at different customer sites.
How the MightyFly operations will work
MightyFly’s aircraft will deliver test kits to and from multiple customer sites. That’s opposed to current systems that deliver single packages on a point-to-point route.
The MightyFly drone service will provide same-day deliveries and include in-transit cold storage options. The flights would be directly from the site a customer would normally buy the test kits (such as pharmacies, clinics, retail stores or healthcare facilities).
The company claims this will result in a 3-fold reduction in the time to deliver critical medical supplies, with a reduction in operating cost of up to 70% over legacy delivery services. The intended outcome? Expanded access to care from providers to end-users, including clinics and educational institutions and major providers like Amazon, Walmart, CVS and Kroger.
“Our mission is to provide efficient access to goods,” said MightyFly CEO, Manal Habib in a prepared statement. “In healthcare, that means enabling the most expeditious, accessible and affordable care. With our Cento aircraft, we will deliver resilient, cost-efficient and reliable expedited logistics at scale. With its eVTOL, healthcare is no longer constrained by roads and runways; lifesaving supplies and critical goods can now fly everywhere, directly and efficiently.”
There’s also an environmental aspect at play. The elimination of commercial airline shipments and ground transportation — coupled with MightyFly’s aircraft sustainable energy alternative flights — could cut emissions by up to 64% compared to delivery by vans and 92% compared to small aircraft, according to MightyFly.
About MightyFly and the Cento drone
MightyFly, which was founded in 2019 and is based in San Francisco, is a provider of expedited logistics services and a leading manufacturer and operator of autonomous, fixed-wing, hybrid eVTOL cargo aircraft with payload capacities of 100 pounds, a range of 1,000 miles, and a speed of 150 mph. Cento is its flagship aircraft.
The Cento received an FAA Special Airworthiness Certificate and Certificate of Authorization for long range flight in December 2022. That same month it completed its first flight.
In January 2024, MightyFly announced the third generation of the Cento aircraft, an autonomous hybrid electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) cargo aircraft designed to carry one hundred pounds of cargo for six hundred miles. That aircraft has since been seen performing demonstration flights for the U.S. Air Force.
With this agreement, MightyFly looks to expand not only it’s footprint, but change the nature of drone logistics from point-to-point to point-to-multipoint. Such a shift should provide this company with a discriminating position in this market. While the payment schedule particulars are not available at this time, the $50 million would bolster MightyFly’s financial position as it continues to develop and certify their aircraft.
-Guest post by Bill Johnson
Bill Johnson is the Women and Drones advisor on Emerging Aviation. He served 26 years in the US Navy as an aviator accumulating over 3600 flight hours. He was a Senior Director of Advanced Programs for Northrop Grumman Mission Systems before founding Single Seat Consulting LLC in 2020.
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