Blade Air Mobility Soars As Q4 Revenue Beats Expectations And Medical Segment Shines

Blade Air Mobility Inc. (NASDAQ:BLDE) shares are trading higher on Thursday after the company reported better-than-expected fourth-quarter 2024 results.

The company reported fourth-quarter revenue growth of 14.5% year-over-year to $54.357 million, beating the consensus of $51.13 million.

Revenue growth was driven by growth in the Passenger and Medical segments. Excluding Canada, which exited in August 2024, revenue increased 22.1% year over year.

“While we continue to drive further cost efficiencies in our Passenger business, we remain laser focused on maximizing growth in Urban Air Mobility products such as our New York City airport transfer service, which saw high-teens year-over-year revenue expansion in Q4. Services like Blade Airport are key to accelerating and de-risking our planned shift from helicopters to eVTOL,” commented Rob Wiesenthal, Blade’s Chief Executive Officer.

Medical revenue rose 13.7% to $36.4 million, driven by higher trip volume and improved fleet efficiency. Short Distance revenue fell 14.7% to $9.1 million, but excluding Canada, it grew 17.7%. Jet and Other revenue surged 84.7% to $8.8 million on increased flight volumes.

Flight Profit rose 39.7% to $12.6 million, driven by growth in Medical and Passenger segments. Flight Margin improved to 23.2% from 19.0%, supported by efficiency gains and the Canada exit.

Quarterly net loss improved by $24.1 million year-over-year to $(9.8) million, mainly due to a $27.3 million reduction in operating losses, partially offset by non-operating items and taxes.

Adjusted EBITDA improved by $4.9 million year-over-year to $(0.4) million, driven by gains in Medical and Passenger segments, partially offset by higher corporate and software development expenses.

Operating Cash Flow rose by $7.6 million to $(1.8) million. Capex was $5 million, driven by a $3.2 million aircraft purchase. Free Cash Flow before aircraft acquisitions improved by $5.8 million to $(3.6) million.

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“Early results following our European restructuring have been very encouraging with strong year-over-year revenue growth and solid profitability improvement in the winter ski season to-date,” said Melissa Tomkiel, President.

“In Medical, our aircraft investments continue to provide much more than just financial benefits, illustrated by our expected launch with two new transplant centers in April, following competitive processes that required direct aircraft ownership,” added Tomkiel.

2025 Outlook: Blade Air Mobility expects revenue of $245 million – $265 million versus consensus of $256.7 million and double-digit Adjusted EBITDA.

Price Action: BLDE stock traded higher by 8.83% at $3.08 premarket Thursday.

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