Full-year net loss improved by $28.8 million versus the prior year to $(27.3) million in FY 2024; Adjusted EBITDA improved by $17.8 million versus the prior year to $1.2 million in FY 2024(1)
Full-year Passenger Segment Adjusted EBITDA of $3.6 million in 2024 represents an $8.6 million increase versus the prior year
Q4 revenue increased 14.5% versus the prior year to $54.4 million in 2024. Excluding Canada, which we exited in August 2024, revenue increased 22.1% versus the prior year period(1)
Net loss improved by $24.1 million versus the prior year to $(9.8) million in Q4 2024; Adjusted EBITDA improved by $4.9 million versus the prior year to $(0.4) million in Q4 2024(1)
Medical Segment Adjusted EBITDA improved 119.6% to $5.5 million in Q4 2024 versus the prior year
Reaffirming guidance for double-digit millions of Adjusted EBITDA in 2025(2)
NEW YORK, March 13, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Blade Air Mobility, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLDE, “, Blade”, or the “, Company”, )), today announced financial results for the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2024.
GAAP FINANCIAL RESULTS
(in thousands except percentages, unaudited)
Three Months Ended December 31,
Year Ended December 31,
2024
2023
% Change
2024
2023
% Change
Revenue
$
54,357
$
47,478
14.5
%
$
248,693
$
225,180
10.4
%
Cost of revenue
$
41,768
$
38,468
8.6
%
$
189,774
$
183,058
3.7
%
Software development
743
988
(24.8
)%
3,184
4,627
(31.2
)%
General and administrative
18,954
41,242
(54.0
)%
81,711
95,174
(14.1
)%
Selling and marketing
1,264
2,413
(47.6
)%
7,950
10,438
(23.8
)%
Total operating expenses
$
62,729
$
83,111
(24.5
)%
$
282,619
$
293,297
(3.6
)%
Loss from operations
$
(8,372
)
$
(35,633
)
(76.5
)%
$
(33,926
)
$
(68,117
)
(50.2
)%
Net loss
$
(9,793
)
$
(33,941
)
(71.1
)%
$
(27,307
)
$
(56,076
)
(51.3
)%
Gross profit
$
9,026
$
4,105
119.9
%
$
40,652
$
22,458
81.0
%
Gross margin
16.6
%
8.6
%
800bps
16.3
%
10.0
%
630bps
(1) See “Use of Non-GAAP Financial Measures” and “Key Metrics and Non-GAAP Financial Information” sections attached to this release for an explanation of Non-GAAP measures used and reconciliations to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measure.
(2) We have not reconciled the forward-looking Adjusted EBITDA guidance included above to the most directly comparable GAAP measure because this cannot be done without unreasonable effort due to the variability and low visibility with respect to certain costs, the most significant of which are incentive compensation (including stock-based compensation), transaction-related expenses, certain fair value measurements, which are potential adjustments to future earnings. We expect the variability of these items to have a potentially unpredictable, and a potentially significant, impact on our future GAAP financial results.
NON-GAAP(1) FINANCIAL RESULTS
(in thousands except percentages, unaudited)
Three Months Ended December 31,
Year Ended December 31,
2024
2023
Change
2024
2023
% Change
Revenue
$
54,357
$
47,478
14.5
%
$
248,693
$
225,180
10.4
%
Cost of revenue
41,768
38,468
8.6
%
189,774
183,058
3.7
%
Flight Profit
12,589
9,010
39.7
%
58,919
42,122
39.9
%
Flight Margin
23.2
%
19.0
%
418bps
23.7
%
18.7
%
499bps
Adjusted SG&A
13,618
14,338
(5.0
)%
59,388
58,989
0.7
%
Depreciation included in cost of revenue
642
80
NM(2)
1,674
234
NM(2)
Adjusted EBITDA
$
(387
)
$
(5,248
)
(92.6
)%
$
1,205
$
(16,633
)
NM(2)
Adjusted EBITDA as a percentage of Revenue
(0.7
)%
(11.1
)%
1,034bps
0.5
%
(7.4
)%
NM(2)
Passenger Adjusted EBITDA
$
(156
)
$
(2,635
)
(94.1
)%
$
3,568
$
(4,988
)
NM(2)
Medical Adjusted EBITDA
$
5,502
$
2,505
119.6
%
$
19,286
$
10,754
79.3
%
Adjusted unallocated corporate expenses and software development
$
(5,733
)
$
(5,118
)
12.0
%
$
(21,649
)
$
(22,399
)
(3.3
)%
(1) See “Use of Non-GAAP Financial Measures” and “Key Metrics and Non-GAAP Financial Information” sections attached to this release for an explanation of Non-GAAP measures used and reconciliations to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measure.
(2) Not meaningful.
“As promised, we are pleased to deliver our first full-year of Adjusted EBITDA profitability as significant revenue growth and margin expansion in both Medical and Passenger drove a $17.8 million year-over-year improvement in our Adjusted EBITDA in 2024,” said Rob Wiesenthal, Blade’s Chief Executive Officer. “This important profitability milestone comes as we continued our rapid growth with revenue excluding Canada increasing 22.1% in Q4 2024 versus the prior year period and is only the first step in our plan to generate multi-year, compounding growth in Free Cash Flow and Adjusted EBITDA.”
Wiesenthal added, “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. This combination of revenue growth and cost efficiencies enabled us to improve on our achievement of positive trailing twelve month Passenger Segment Adjusted EBITDA last quarter, more than a year ahead of our target, by posting $3.6 million of Passenger Segment Adjusted EBITDA for the full-year 2024, a $8.6 million increase versus the prior year.”
“We have successfully positioned both the Medical and Passenger businesses to benefit from improved economies of scale, driven by our aircraft investments and additional capacity purchase agreements that enable us to use our increasing volumes to drive margin expansion,” said Will Heyburn, Chief Financial Officer. “Our 119.6% year-over-year improvement in Medical Segment Adjusted EBITDA this quarter, on 13.7% revenue growth, highlights the benefits of this strategy.”
Heyburn added, “We’re also pleased to report that Q4 2024 was our first quarter with Medical Segment Adjusted EBITDA margins above our 15% near-term target. Though this metric will show lumpiness quarter-to-quarter driven by aircraft maintenance schedules and overall trip volumes, we’re happy to be able to demonstrate the attainability of this goal earlier than expected.”
“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.”
Fourth Quarter Ended December 31, 2024 Financial Highlights
Total revenue increased 14.5% to $54.4 million in the current quarter versus $47.5 million in the prior year period, driven primarily by growth in both our Passenger and Medical segments. Excluding Canada, which we exited in August 2024, revenue increased 22.1%, versus the prior year period.
Flight Profit(1) increased 39.7% to $12.6 million in the current quarter versus $9.0 million in the prior year period, driven by strong growth in both the Medical and Passenger segments.
Flight Margin(1) improved to 23.2% in the current quarter from 19.0% in the prior year period. Passenger Flight Margin expansion was driven by margin improvements in Short Distance and Jet & Other Passenger, along with our exit from Canada. In Medical, Flight Margin expansion was primarily driven by our aircraft capacity strategy.
Medical revenue increased 13.7% to $36.4 million in the current quarter versus $32.0 million in the prior year period. The increase in Air revenue was primarily driven by trip volume partially offset by a reduction in block hours per trip as we increased the size of our dedicated fleet and positioned aircraft closer to our customers, reducing repositioning cost while improving our ability to react quickly. Ground and TOPS, our organ matching service, grew faster than the Medical segment average.
Short Distance revenue decreased 14.7% to $9.1 million in the current quarter versus $10.7 million in the prior year period. Excluding Canada, which we exited in August 2024, Short Distance revenue increased 17.7%(1) versus the prior year period. The increase was primarily driven by Leisure, Other Short Distance and New York Airport.
Jet and Other revenue increased 84.7% to $8.8 million in the current quarter versus $4.8 million in the prior year period primarily driven by higher flight volumes.
Net loss improved by $24.1 million versus the prior year to $(9.8) million in the current quarter driven primarily by a $27.3 million improvement in loss from operations partially offset by other non-operating income and income taxes.
Adjusted EBITDA(1) increased by $4.9 million year-over-year to $(0.4) million in the current quarter versus $(5.2) million in the prior year period primarily due to a $3.0 million improvement in Medical Segment Adjusted EBITDA and a $2.5 million increase in Passenger Segment Adjusted EBITDA in the quarter partially offset by an increase in Adjusted Unallocated Corporate Expenses and Software Development.
Operating Cash Flow increased by $7.6 million to $(1.8) million in the current quarter. Capital expenditures of $5.0 million were driven primarily by the $3.2 million purchase of aircraft in the Medical segment. Free Cash Flow, Before Aircraft Acquisitions, which is net of all capital expenditures, including aircraft maintenance expenses, but excludes the impact of aircraft acquisitions, increased by $5.8 million to $(3.6) million in the current quarter.
Ended FY 2024 with $127.1 million in cash and short term investments.
(1) See “Use of Non-GAAP Financial Measures” and “Key Metrics and Non-GAAP Financial Information” sections attached to this release for an explanation of Non-GAAP measures used and reconciliations to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measure.
Business Highlights and Recent Updates
In Medical, we owned nine aircraft at the end of December 2024 and our tenth aircraft entered service in February 2025. We continue to expect that our owned fleet will represent approximately one third of our Medical flight hours in 2025, with the majority of flight hours remaining on third-party aircraft.
Our organ placement service offering (“TOPS”) ended the year with six contracted customers and a strong sales pipeline.
We announced an alliance with Skyports Infrastructure to launch a pilot program that will expand Blade’s existing by-the-seat helicopter transfer service, connecting the Downtown Manhattan Heliport and John F. Kennedy International Airport (“JFK”), starting in April of this year.
In March, Blade introduced a new mobile app that offers an enhanced user experience, easy flight booking, flexible payment options, trip management functionality and many more features.
Financial Outlook(2)
For the full year 2025, we expect:
Revenue of $245-265 million
Double-digit Adjusted EBITDA
Conference Call
The Company will conduct a conference call starting at 8:00 a.m. ET on Thursday March 13, 2025 to discuss the results for the fourth quarter ended December 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.
(1) See “Use of Non-GAAP Financial Measures” and “Key Metrics and Non-GAAP Financial Information” sections attached to this release for an explanation of Non-GAAP measures used and reconciliations to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measure.
(2) We have not reconciled the forward-looking Adjusted EBITDA guidance included above to the most directly comparable GAAP measure because this cannot be done without unreasonable effort due to the variability and low visibility with respect to certain costs, the most significant of which are incentive compensation (including stock-based compensation), transaction-related expenses, certain fair value measurements, which are potential adjustments to future earnings. We expect the variability of these items to have a potentially unpredictable, and a potentially significant, impact on our future GAAP financial results.
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, Free Cash Flow and Free Cash Flow, before Aircraft Acquisitions and revenue excluding the impact of Canada 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, impairment of intangible assets 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 vehicles, landing fees, depreciation of aircraft and vehicles, operating lease cost, internal costs incurred in generating organ ground transportation revenue using the Company’s owned vehicles and costs of operating our owned aircraft including fuel, management fees paid to the operator, maintenance costs and pilot salaries. 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 non-discretionary direct costs associated with those operations such as third-party variable costs and costs of owning and operating Blade’s owned aircraft.
Free Cash Flow and Free Cash Flow, before Aircraft Acquisitions – Blade defines Free Cash Flow as net cash provided by / (used in) operating activities less capital expenditures and capitalized software development costs. Blade also reports Free Cash Flow, before Aircraft Acquisitions, which is Free Cash Flow excluding cash outflows for aircraft acquisitions. Blade believes that Free Cash Flow and Free Cash Flow, before Aircraft Acquisitions provide important insights into the cash-generating capability of the business, with Free Cash Flow, before Aircraft Acquisition specifically highlighting the cash generated by our core operations before the impact of discretionary strategic investments in new aircraft.
We have also shown revenue and Short Distance revenue excluding the impact of Canada in this release. These amounts reflect total revenue and short distance revenue, respectively, excluding the activity in Canada in both the current and the prior year periods. The Company discontinued its operations in Canada on August 31, 2024. Management believes that presenting this information enhances the comparability of results between periods.
Financial Results
BLADE AIR MOBILITY, INC.
CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS
(in thousands, except share data, unaudited)
December 31,
2024
December 31,
2023
Assets
Current assets:
Cash and cash equivalents
$
18,378
$
27,873
Restricted cash
1,269
1,148
Accounts receivable, net of allowance of $112 and $98 at December 31, 2024 and December 31, 2023, respectively
21,591
21,005
Short-term investments
108,757
138,264
Prepaid expenses and other current assets
10,747
17,971
Total current assets
160,742
206,261
Non-current assets:
Property and equipment, net
30,918
2,899
Intangible assets, net
13,653
20,519
Goodwill
41,050
40,373
Operating right-of-use asset
8,876
23,484
Other non-current assets
1,436
1,402
Total assets
$
256,675
$
294,938
Liabilities and Stockholders’ Equity
Current liabilities:
Accounts payable and accrued expenses
$
12,766
$
23,859
Deferred revenue
6,656
6,845
Operating lease liability, current
3,304
4,787
Total current liabilities
22,726
35,491
Non-current liabilities:
Warrant liability
5,808
4,958
Operating lease liability, long-term
6,018
19,738
Deferred tax liability
185
451
Total liabilities
34,737
60,638
Stockholders’ Equity
Preferred stock, $0.0001 par value, 2,000,000 shares authorized; no shares issued and outstanding at December 31, 2024 and December 31, 2023, respectively
—
—
Common stock, $0.0001 par value; 400,000,000 authorized; 79,419,028 and 75,131,425 shares issued at December 31, 2024 and December 31, 2023, respectively
7
7
Additional paid in capital
407,076
390,083
Accumulated other comprehensive income
1,753
3,964
Accumulated deficit
(186,898
)
(159,754
)
Total stockholders’ equity
221,938
234,300
Total Liabilities and Stockholders’ Equity
$
256,675
$
294,938
BLADE AIR MOBILITY, INC.
CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS
(in thousands, except share and per share data, unaudited)
Three Months Ended December 31,
Year Ended December 31,
2024
2023
2024
2023
Revenue
$
54,357
$
47,478
$
248,693
$
225,180
Operating expenses
Cost of revenue
41,768
38,468
189,774
183,058
Software development
743
988
3,184
4,627
General and administrative
18,954
41,242
81,711
95,174
Selling and marketing
1,264
2,413
7,950
10,438
Total operating expenses
62,729
83,111
282,619
293,297
Loss from operations
(8,372
)
(35,633
)
(33,926
)
(68,117
)
Other non-operating income (expense)
Interest income
1,590
2,264
7,214
8,442
Change in fair value of warrant liabilities
(3,116
)
(1,698
)
(850
)
2,125
Realized gain from sales of short-term investments
—
103
—
8
Total other non-operating (expense) income
(1,526
)