• Achieved record-high Medical revenue of $36.0 million in Q1 2024, a 34.6% increase versus the prior year period and a 12.6% sequential increase versus Q4 2023.
• Net loss improved by $6.0 million versus the prior year to $(4.2) million in Q1 2024; Adjusted EBITDA improved by $4.2 million versus the prior year to $(3.5) million in Q1 2024.
• Record-high Medical Segment Adjusted EBITDA of $4.4 million in Q1 2024, up 134.5%, while Passenger Segment Adjusted EBITDA improved by $0.4 million, versus the prior year period
• Confirmed guidance for Adjusted EBITDA profitability in full-year 2024 and Adjusted EBITDA in the double-digit millions for 2025.

NEW YORK, May 07, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Blade Air Mobility, Inc. (Nasdaq: BLDE, "Blade" or the "Company"), today announced financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2024.

GAAP FINANCIAL RESULTS
(in thousands except percentages, unaudited)

NON-GAAP⁽¹⁾ FINANCIAL RESULTS
(in thousands except percentages, unaudited)

"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, Blade's Chief Executive Officer. "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."

"Our Medical sales pipeline, both in logistics and organ placement, is as strong as ever and we expect continued new client onboarding throughout the year," added Wiesenthal.

"The key driver of our path to positive Adjusted EBITDA this year is margin improvement in our growing Medical business and we delivered beyond our expectations this quarter," said Will Heyburn, Blade's Chief Financial Officer. "Medical Flight Profit margins in Q1 2024 improved by six points versus the prior year period and two points sequentially versus Q4 2023 as our dedicated aircraft have enabled more reliable and cost-effective service for our clients with improved economies of scale for Blade. We expect continued margin improvement in the coming quarters as we complete our previously announced aircraft acquisition and bring additional non-owned dedicated aircraft onboard our platform."

"We have closed on seven of the eight previously announced jet aircraft acquisitions since quarter end and are already seeing the cash flow benefits that come when you couple the significant scale of our Medical business with strategic aircraft ownership in our highest density markets," said Melissa Tomkiel, Blade's President. "The vast majority of our flying will remain with third-party owned and operated aircraft as part of our layered, asset-light approach, enabling maximum flexibility, guaranteed availability and cost efficiency for our hospital clients."

First Quarter Ended March 31, 2024 Financial Highlights

• Total revenue increased 13.8% to $51.5 million in the current quarter versus $45.3 million in the prior year period. Excluding the impact of discontinuing our scheduled jet service between New York and South Florida, which generated revenue of $2.9 million in the three months ended March 31, 2023, total revenue increased 21.5%, year-over-year.
• Flight Profit⁽¹⁾ increased 41.5% to $10.1 million in the current quarter versus $7.2 million in the prior year period, driven by strong growth in our Medical business, partially offset by a decline in Passenger.
• Flight Margin⁽¹⁾ improved to 19.7% in the current quarter from 15.8% in the prior year period, driven by increased use of dedicated aircraft and owned ground vehicles in our Medical segment, which results in lower costs, improved pricing and utilization in our New York by-the-seat airport transfer product, and a reduction in spot market jet charter costs, which decreased more quickly than our jet charter pricing, partially offset by weaker performance in Europe and Canada.
• Medical revenue increased 34.6% to $36.0 million in the current quarter versus $26.8 million in the prior year period, driven by the addition of new transplant center clients, increased average trip distance, growth with existing clients, and strong overall market growth. This growth represents 12.6% sequential increase versus Q4 2023.
• Short Distance revenue decreased 5.9% to $9.8 million in the current quarter versus $10.4 million in the prior year period. The decrease was driven primarily by significant inclement weather impacting our European business in the Swiss and French alps and lower passenger volume in Canada, partially offset by growth in the United States, primarily for our New York Airport service.
• Jet and Other revenue decreased 29.7% to $5.7 million in the current quarter versus $8.1 million in the prior year period driven primarily by the discontinuation of our BladeOne seasonal by-the-seat jet service between New York and South Florida, which generated $2.9 million of revenue in the three months ended March 31, 2023. Excluding the impact of the discontinuation of BladeOne, Jet and Other revenue increased 9.4%, year-over-year.
• Net loss decreased 58.5% to $(4.2) million in the current quarter versus $(10.2) million in the prior year period and improved as a percentage of revenues to (8.2)% in the current quarter from (22.5)% in the prior year period.
• Adjusted EBITDA⁽¹⁾ improved 54.1% to $(3.5) million in the current quarter versus $(7.7) million in the prior year period, and improved as a percentage of revenues to (6.9)% in the current quarter from (17.1)% in the prior year period primarily due to a 134.5% increase in Medical Segment Adjusted EBITDA to $4.4 million in the current quarter, a $0.4 million improvement in Passenger Segment Adjusted EBITDA to $(2.7) million and a $1.2 million improvement in Adjusted Unallocated Corporate Expenses and Software Development to $(5.3) million.
• Capital expenditures of $1.1 million were driven primarily by the build-out of new office space in Tempe, Arizona for our growing medical business and investments in software development.
• Ended Q1 2024 with $151.0 million in cash and short term investments.

Business Highlights and Recent Updates

• Record high Medical Revenue and Segment Adjusted EBITDA in the three-months ended March 31, 2024 as Blade continued to add new clients while seeing strong trip volume growth within existing clients, both on a year-over-year basis, and sequentially versus Q4 2023.
• Closed on seven of the eight previously announced jet aircraft acquisitions for our Medical business since quarter end, with the remaining aircraft expected to close in the coming months.
• Continued year-over-year growth in Blade's New York Airport transfer business, which services passengers for flights between Manhattan and Kennedy and Newark airports, with the third consecutive quarter of positive Flight Profit contribution.

Financial Outlook ⁽²⁾

The Company is reaffirming its guidance from March, for the full year 2024, we expect:

• Revenue of $240 million to $250 million
• Positive Adjusted EBITDA

For the full year 2025, we expect:

• Double-digit year-over-year revenue growth
• Double-digit Adjusted EBITDA

Conference Call

The Company will conduct a conference call starting at 8:00 a.m. ET on Tuesday, May 7, 2024 to discuss the results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2024.

A live audio-only webcast of the call may be accessed from the Investor Relations section of the Company’s website at https://ir.blade.com/. An archived replay of the call will be available on the Investor Relations section of the Company's website for one year.

Use of Non-GAAP Financial Information
Blade believes that the non-GAAP measures discussed below, viewed in addition to and not in lieu of our reported U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles ("GAAP") results, provide useful information to investors by providing a more focused measure of operating results, enhance the overall understanding of past financial performance and future prospects, and allow for greater transparency with respect to key metrics used by management in its financial and operational decision making. The non-GAAP measures presented herein may not be comparable to similarly titled measures presented by other companies. Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted Unallocated Corporate Expenses, SG&A, Adjusted SG&A, Flight Profit, Flight Margin and Free Cash Flow have been reconciled to the nearest GAAP measure in the tables within this press release.

Adjusted EBITDA - Blade reports Adjusted EBITDA, which is a non-GAAP financial measure. Blade defines Adjusted EBITDA as net loss adjusted to exclude depreciation and amortization, stock-based compensation, change in fair value of warrant liabilities, interest income and expense, income tax, realized gains and losses on short-term investments, and certain other non-recurring items that management does not believe are indicative of ongoing Company operating performance and would impact the comparability of results between periods.  

Adjusted Unallocated Corporate Expenses – Blade defines Adjusted Unallocated Corporate Expenses as expenses that cannot be allocated to either of our reporting segments (Passenger and Medical) and therefore attributable to our Corporate expenses and software development, less non-cash items and certain other non-recurring items that management does not believe are indicative of ongoing Company operating performance and would impact the comparability of results between periods.

SG&A and Adjusted SG&A - Blade defines SG&A as total operating expenses excluding cost of revenue. Blade defines Adjusted SG&A as total operating expenses excluding cost of revenue and excluding non-cash items and certain other non-recurring items that management does not believe are indicative of ongoing Company operating performance and would impact the comparability of results between periods.

Flight Profit and Flight Margin - Blade defines Flight Profit as revenue less cost of revenue. Cost of revenue consists of flight costs paid to operators of aircraft and cars, landing fees, depreciation for cares, ROU asset amortization and internal costs incurred in generating organ ground transportation revenue using the Company’s owned cars. Blade defines Flight Margin for a period as Flight Profit for the period divided by revenue for the same period. Blade believes that Flight Profit and Flight Margin provide an important measure of the profitability of the Company's flight and ground operations, as they focus solely on the direct variable costs associated with those operations.

Free Cash Flow - Blade defines Free Cash Flow as net cash provided by / (used in) operating activities less capital expenditures and capitalized software development costs.

Financial Results

BLADE AIR MOBILITY, INC.
CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS
(in thousands, except share data, unaudited)

BLADE AIR MOBILITY, INC.
CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS
(in thousands, except share and per share data, unaudited)

BLADE AIR MOBILITY, INC.
CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS
(in thousands, unaudited)

Key Metrics and Non-GAAP Financial Information

DISAGGREGATED REVENUE BY PRODUCT LINE
(in thousands, unaudited)

SEGMENT INFORMATION: REVENUE, FLIGHT PROFIT, FLIGHT MARGIN, ADJUSTED EBITDA WITH RECONCILIATION TO TOTAL ADJUSTED EBITDA
(in thousands except percentages, unaudited)

SEATS FLOWN - ALL PASSENGER FLIGHTS
(unaudited)

REVENUE, FLIGHT PROFIT, FLIGHT MARGIN, ADJUSTED SG&A, ADJUSTED EBITDA
(in thousands except percentages, unaudited)

RECONCILIATION OF REVENUE LESS COST OF REVENUE TO FLIGHT PROFIT AND GROSS PROFIT
(in thousands except percentages, unaudited)

RECONCILIATION OF TOTAL OPERATING EXPENSES TO ADJUSTED SG&A
(in thousands except percentages, unaudited)

RECONCILIATION OF NET LOSS TO ADJUSTED EBITDA
(in thousands except percentages, unaudited)

RECONCILIATION OF NET CASH PROVIDED BY / (USED IN) OPERATING ACTIVITIES TO FREE CASH FLOW
(in thousands, unaudited)

LAST TWELVE MONTHS DISAGGREGATED REVENUE BY PRODUCT LINE
(in thousands, unaudited)

About Blade Air Mobility

Blade Air Mobility provides air transportation and logistics for hospitals across the United States, where it is one of the largest transporters of human organs for transplant, and for passengers, with helicopter and fixed wing services primarily in the Northeast United States, Southern Europe and Western Canada.  Based in New York City, Blade's asset-light model, coupled with its exclusive passenger terminal infrastructure and proprietary technologies, is designed to facilitate a seamless transition from helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft to Electric Vertical Aircraft (“EVA” or “eVTOL”), enabling lower cost air mobility that is both quiet and emission-free. 

For more information, visit www.blade.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the “safe harbor” provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements include all statements that are not historical facts and may be identified by the use of words such as "will", “anticipate,” “believe,” “could,” “continue,” “expect,” “estimate,” “may,” “plan,” “outlook,” “future” and “project” and other similar expressions and the negatives of those terms. These statements, which involve risks and uncertainties, relate to analyses and other information that are based on forecasts of future results and estimates of amounts not yet determinable and may also relate to Blade’s future prospects, developments and business strategies. In particular, such forward-looking statements include statements concerning Blade’s future financial and operating performance (including the discussion of 2024 and 2025 financial outlook and guidance), results of operations, industry environment and growth opportunities, plans to release guidance, new product lines, and the development and adoption of EVA technology. These statements are based on management’s current expectations and beliefs, as well as a number of assumptions concerning future events. Actual results may differ materially from the results predicted, and reported results should not be considered as an indication of future performance.

Such forward-looking statements are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other important factors, many of which are outside Blade’s control, that could cause actual results to differ materially from the results discussed in the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in forward-looking statements include: our continued incurrence of significant losses; failure of the markets for our offerings to grow as expected, or at all; our ability to effectively market and sell air transportation as a substitute for conventional methods of transportation; reliance on certain customers in our Passenger segment revenue; the inability or unavailability to use or take advantage of the shift, or lack thereof, to EVA technology; our ability to successfully enter new markets and launch new routes and services; any adverse publicity stemming from accidents involving small aircraft, helicopters or charter flights and, in particular, any accidents involving our third-party operators; any change to the ownership of our aircraft and the challenges related thereto; the effects of competition; harm to our reputation and brand; our ability to provide high-quality customer support; our ability to maintain a high daily aircraft usage rate; changes in consumer preferences, discretionary spending and other economic conditions; impact of natural disasters, outbreaks and pandemics, economic, social, weather, geopolitical, growth constraints, and regulatory conditions or other circumstances on metropolitan areas and airports where we have geographic concentration; the effects of climate change, including potential increased impacts of severe weather and regulatory activity; the availability of aircraft fuel; our ability to address system failures, defects, errors, or vulnerabilities in our website, applications, backend systems or other technology systems or those of third-party technology providers; interruptions or security breaches of our information technology systems; our placements within mobile applications; our ability to protect our intellectual property rights; our use of open source software; our ability to expand and maintain our infrastructure network; our ability to access additional funding; the increase of costs and risks associated with international expansion; our ability to identify, complete and successfully integrate future acquisitions; our ability to manage our growth; increases in insurance costs or reductions in insurance coverage; the loss of key members of our management team; our ability to maintain our company culture; our reliance on contractual relationships with certain transplant centers and Organ Procurement Organizations; effects of fluctuating financial results; our reliance on third-party operators; the availability of third-party operators; disruptions to third party operators; increases in insurance costs or reductions in insurance coverage for our third-party aircraft operators; the possibility that our third-party aircraft operators may illegally, improperly or otherwise inappropriately operate our branded aircraft; our reliance on third-party web service providers; changes in our regulatory environment; risks and impact of any litigation we may be subject to; regulatory obstacles in local governments; the expansion of domestic and foreign privacy and security laws; the expansion of environmental regulations; our ability to remediate any material weaknesses or maintain internal controls over financial reporting; our ability to maintain effective internal controls and disclosure controls; changes in the fair value of our warrants; and other factors beyond our control. Additional factors can be found in our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, each as filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. New risks and uncertainties arise from time to time, and it is impossible for us to predict these events or how they may affect us. You are cautioned not to place undue reliance upon any forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date made, and Blade undertakes no obligation to update or revise the forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, changes in expectations, future events or otherwise.

Press Contacts
For Media Relations
Lee Gold
press@blade.com

For Investor Relations
Mat Schneider
investors@blade.com