Revenue up 24.5% versus the prior year to $47.5 million in Q4 2023 and up 54.1% in the full year 2023 to $225.2 million
Net loss increased $(18.5) million versus the prior year to $(33.9) million in Q4 2023 and increased $(28.8) million in the full year 2023 to $(56.1) million; Adjusted EBITDA increased by $2.7 million versus the prior year to $(5.2) million in Q4 2023 and increased by $10.8 million to $(16.6) million in the full year 2023
Introduced guidance for Adjusted EBITDA profitability in full-year 2024 and Adjusted EBITDA in the double-digit millions for 2025
Announced pending acquisition of eight jet aircraft to support continued growth in Medical, enabling lower cost service with improved availability for the hospitals we serve and superior unit economics for Blade; new organ placement service launched in December, as planned
NEW YORK, March 12, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Blade Air Mobility, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLDE, “, Blade”, or the “, Company”, )), today announced financial results for the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2023.
GAAP FINANCIAL RESULTS
(in thousands except percentages, unaudited)
Three Months Ended December 31,
Year Ended
December 31,
2023
2022
% Change
2023
2022
% Change
Revenue
$
47,478
$
38,135
24.5
%
$
225,180
$
146,120
54.1
%
Cost of revenue
38,468
33,160
16.0
%
183,058
123,845
47.8
%
Software development
988
1,622
(39.1)
%
4,627
5,545
(16.6)
%
General and administrative
41,242
20,576
100.4
%
95,174
62,510
52.3
%
Selling and marketing
2,413
2,455
(1.7)
%
10,438
7,749
34.7
%
Total operating expenses
83,111
57,813
43.8
%
293,297
199,649
46.9
%
Loss from operations
(35,633
)
(19,678
)
81.1
%
(68,117
)
(53,529
)
27.3
%
Net loss
$
(33,941
)
$
(15,415
)
120.2
%
$
(56,076
)
$
(27,260
)
105.7
%
Passenger loss
$
(25,349
)
$
(5,771
)
339.2
%
$
(33,503
)
$
(14,029
)
138.8
%
Medical loss
$
(2,443
)
$
(5,145
)
(52.5)
%
$
(1,388
)
$
(2,930
)
(52.6)
%
Unallocated corporate expenses and software development
$
(7,841
)
$
(8,762
)
(10.5)
%
$
(33,226
)
$
(36,570
)
(9.1)
%
NON-GAAP(1) FINANCIAL RESULTS
(in thousands except percentages, unaudited)
Three Months Ended December 31,
Year Ended
December 31,
2023
2022
Change
2023
2022
% Change
GAAP Revenue
$
47,478
$
38,135
24.5%
$
225,180
$
146,120
54.1%
GAAP Cost of revenue
38,468
33,160
16.0%
183,058
123,845
47.8%
Non-cash timing of ROU asset amortization
—
464
(100.0%)
—
612
(100.0%)
Flight Profit
9,010
5,439
65.7%
42,122
22,887
84.0%
Flight Margin
19.0
%
14.3
%
471bps
18.7
%
15.7
%
304bps
Adjusted Corporate Expense (1)
14,258
13,394
6.5%
58,755
50,338
16.7%
Adjusted Corporate Expense as a percentage of GAAP Revenue
30.0
%
35.1
%
(510)bps
26.1
%
34.4
%
(836bps)
Adjusted EBITDA (1)
$
(5,248
)
$
(7,955
)
(34.0%)
$
(16,633
)
$
(27,451
)
(39.4%)
Adjusted EBITDA as a percentage of GAAP Revenue
(11.1)
%
(20.9)
%
980bps
(7.4)
%
(18.8)
%
1,140bps
Passenger Adjusted EBITDA (1)
$
(2,635
)
$
(3,769
)
(30.1%)
$
(4,988
)
$
(6,367
)
(21.7%)
Medical Adjusted EBITDA (1)
$
2,505
$
1,587
57.8%
$
10,754
$
5,116
110.2%
Adjusted unallocated corporate expenses and software development (1)
$
(5,118
)
$
(5,773
)
(11.3%)
$
(22,399
)
$
(26,200
)
(14.5%)
(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.
“After a rewarding year of strong growth, flight profit margin expansion and cost structure improvements, we are now confident to begin providing guidance to our investors for positive Adjusted EBITDA for the year-ending December 31, 2024 and double-digit Adjusted EBITDA in 2025(2),” said Rob Wiesenthal, Blade’s Chief Executive Officer. “Though Q4 is a seasonally light quarter for Blade, we remained focused on continued margin enhancement and significant additions to our dedicated aircraft fleet, highlighted by the acquisition of eight jets for our organ transportation business. These initiatives will further improve our competitive positioning without compromising the benefits of our asset-light model, as the vast majority of our Medical flights and nearly 100% of our Passenger flights will continued to be serviced by third-party owned and operated aircraft.”
“We’ve made huge progress transitioning more and more of our Medical flights to dedicated aircraft that provide us with fixed cost leverage as we grow and are strategically based near our hospital customers,” said Will Heyburn, Blade’s Chief Financial Officer. “This is a win-win that has enabled us to increase our Flight Profit per trip while reducing costs for our hospital customers. When paired with our growing fleet of medical vehicles and new organ placement offering, we believe we’ve built the most cost-effective and reliable end-to-end organ logistics platform in the United States. At the same time, we improved our Passenger flight profit margins by five percentage points in Q4 2023 versus the prior year, demonstrating our path to full-year profitability in the Passenger segment, which we expect in 2025.”
“Our Medical business has more than tripled since our acquisition of Trinity in 2021, presenting us with an opportunity to further leverage our scale through the acquisition of a limited number of jet aircraft. By purchasing aircraft that we already utilize exclusively and by maintaining the existing operator and crews, we expect to capture incremental fixed cost leverage without the risk of building a new medical aircraft operation from the ground up,” said Melissa Tomkiel, Blade’s President. “We remain committed to our asset-light model and expect the significant majority of our flying to remain with third party owned and operated aircraft.”
(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.
Fourth Quarter Ended December 31, 2023 Financial Highlights
Total revenue increased 24.5% to $47.5 million in the current quarter versus $38.1 million in the prior year period.
Flight Profit(1) increased 65.7% to $9.0 million in the current quarter versus $5.4 million in the prior year period, driven by strong growth in our MediMobility Organ Transport business and improved profitability across our U.S. Short Distance business.
Flight Margin(1) improved to 19.0% in the current quarter from 14.3% in the prior year period, driven by increased use of dedicated aircraft and owned ground vehicles in our MediMobility Organ Transport business line, 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.
Short Distance revenue increased 13.6% to $10.7 million in the current quarter versus $9.4 million in the prior year period. Growth was driven by an increase in seat volume and improved pricing in our New York by-the-seat airport transfer product, increased revenue in Europe and in Canada.
MediMobility Organ Transport revenue increased 47.9% to $32.0 million in the current quarter versus $21.6 million in the prior year period, driven by the addition of new transplant center customers, increased average trip distance, growth with existing customers, and strong overall market growth.
Jet and Other revenue decreased (32.4)% to $4.8 million in the current quarter versus $7.1 million in the prior year period driven primarily by the discontinuation of our seasonal by-the-seat jet service between New York and South Florida and softer jet charter demand.
Net loss increased 120.2% to $(33.9) million in the current quarter versus $(15.4) million in the prior year period and increased as a percentage of revenues to (71.5)% in the current quarter from (40.4)% in the prior year period, primarily due to a $20.8 million impairment charge on intangible assets related to the Blade Europe acquisition.
Adjusted EBITDA(1) improved to $(5.2) million in the current quarter versus $(8.0) million in the prior year period, and improved as a percentage of revenues to (11.1)% in the current quarter from (20.9)% in the prior year period primarily due to a 57.8% increase in Medical Segment Adjusted EBITDA to $2.5 million in the current quarter, a $1.1 million improvement in Passenger Segment Adjusted EBITDA to $(2.6) million and a $0.7 million improvement in Adjusted Unallocated Corporate Expenses and Software Development to $(5.1) million.
Ended Q4 2023 with $166.1 million in cash and short term investments.
Business Highlights and Recent Updates
Launched Trinity Organ Placement Services (“TOPS”) in December, a new Medical service helping transplant centers determine if an organ is a match for a potential recipient.
Announced pending acquisition of eight Hawker 800 aircraft which had previously been 100% dedicated to Blade’s Medical business. The $21.0 million acquisition cost will be funded through $11.7 million in cash and $9.3 million in existing deposits with the operator.
(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.
Financial Outlook (1)
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 Wednesday, March 12, 2024 to discuss the results for the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2023.
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) 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, Segment Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted Unallocated Corporate Expenses, Corporate Expenses, Adjusted Corporate Expenses, 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 and Segment Adjusted EBITDA – Blade reports Adjusted EBITDA, which is a non-GAAP financial measure. This measure excludes non-cash items or certain transactions that are not indicative of ongoing Company operating performance and / or items that management does not believe are reflective of our ongoing core operations (as shown in the table below). Blade defines Segment Adjusted EBITDA as segment income (loss) excluding non-cash items or certain transactions that management does not believe are reflective of our ongoing core operations.
Adjusted Unallocated Corporate Expenses – Blade defines Adjusted Unallocated Corporate Expenses as expenses attributable to our Corporate expenses and software development operating segment less non-cash items or certain transactions that are not indicative of ongoing Company operating performance and / or items that management does not believe are reflective of our ongoing core operations that cannot be allocated to either of our reporting segments (Passenger and Medical). Adjusted Unallocated Corporate Expenses has the same meaning as Segment Adjusted EBITDA for our Corporate expenses and software development operating segment and is reconciled in the tables below under the caption “Reconciliation of Segment Income (loss) to Segment Adjusted EBITDA.”
Corporate Expenses and Adjusted Corporate Expenses – Blade defines Corporate Expenses as total operating expenses excluding cost of revenue. Blade defines Adjusted Corporate Expenses as Corporate Expenses excluding non-cash items or certain transactions that are not indicative of ongoing Company operating performance and / or items that management does not believe are reflective of our ongoing core operations.
Flight Profit and Flight Margin – Blade defines Flight Profit as revenue less cost of revenue, and in 2022 excluding non-cash right-of-use (“ROU”) asset amortization. Cost of revenue consists of flight costs paid to operators of aircraft and cars, landing fees, ROU asset amortization and internal costs incurred in generating 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 a more accurate measure of the profitability of the Company’s flight and ground operations, as they focus solely on the direct costs associated with those operations. Blade believes the exclusion of ROU asset amortization from Flight Profit and Flight Margin is helpful as it better represents the Company’s actual payable charges in exchange for flights served by the operators. We also believe that excluding this non-cash ROU asset amortization expense will aid in comparing to prior and future periods as we do not expect it to re-occur after the fourth quarter of 2022, which it did not, as shown in the table below.
Free Cash Flow – Blade defines Free Cash Flow as net cash provided by / (used in) operating activities less capital expenditures.
Financial Results
BLADE AIR MOBILITY, INC.
CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS
(in thousands, except share data, unaudited)
December 31,
2023
December 31,
2022
Assets
Current assets:
Cash and cash equivalents (1)
$
27,873
$
41,338
Restricted cash (1)
1,148
3,085
Accounts receivable, net of allowance of $98 and $0 at December 31, 2023 and December 31, 2022
21,005
10,877
Short-term investments
138,264
150,740
Prepaid expenses and other current assets
17,971
12,086
Total current assets
206,261
218,126
Non-current assets:
Property and equipment, net
2,899
2,037
Intangible assets, net
20,519
46,365
Goodwill
40,373
39,445
Operating right-of-use asset
23,484
17,692
Other non-current assets (1)
1,402
1,360
Total assets
$
294,938
$
325,025
Liabilities and Stockholders’ Equity
Current liabilities:
Accounts payable and accrued expenses
$
23,859
$
16,536
Deferred revenue
6,845
6,709
Operating lease liability, current
4,787
3,362
Total current liabilities
35,491
26,607
Non-current liabilities:
Warrant liability
4,958
7,083
Operating lease liability, long-term
19,738
14,970
Deferred tax liability
451
1,876
Total liabilities
60,638
50,536
Stockholders’ Equity
Preferred stock, $0.0001 par value, 2,000,000 shares authorized at December 31, 2023 and December 31, 2022. No shares issued and outstanding at December 31, 2023 and December 31, 2022.
—
—
Common stock, $0.0001 par value; 400,000,000 authorized; 75,131,425 and 71,660,617 shares issued at December 31, 2023 and December 31, 2022, respectively.
7
7
Additional paid in capital
390,083
375,873
Accumulated other comprehensive income
3,964
2,287
Accumulated deficit
(159,754
)
(103,678
)
Total stockholders’ equity
234,300
274,489
Total Liabilities and Stockholders’ Equity
$
294,938
$
325,025
(1) Prior year amounts have been updated to conform to current period presentation.
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,
2023
2022
2023
2022
Revenue
$
47,478
$
38,135
$
225,180
$
146,120
Operating expenses
Cost of revenue
38,468
33,160
183,058
123,845
Software development
988
1,622
4,627
5,545
General and administrative
41,242
20,576
95,174
62,510
Selling and marketing
2,413
2,455
10,438
7,749
Total operating expenses
83,111
57,813
293,297
199,649
Loss from operations
(35,633
)
(19,678
)
(68,117
)
(53,529
)
Other non-operating income (expense)
Interest income, net
2,264
1,542
8,442
3,434
Change in fair value of warrant liabilities
(1,698
)
1,984
2,125
24,225
Realized gain (loss) from sales of short-term investments
103
(91
)
8
(2,162
)
Total other non-operating income
669
3,435
10,575
25,497
Loss before income taxes
(34,964
)
(16,243
)
(57,542
)
(28,032
)
Income tax benefit
(1,023
)
(828
)
(1,466
)
(772
)
Net loss
$
(33,941
)
$
(15,415
)
$
(56,076
)
$
(27,260
)
BLADE AIR MOBILITY, INC.
CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS
(in thousands, unaudited)
Three Months Ended
December 31,
Year Ended December 31,
2023
2022
2023
2022
Cash Flows From Operating Activities:
Net loss
$
(33,941
)
$
(15,415
)
$
(56,076
)
$
(27,260
)
Adjustments to reconcile net income (loss) to net cash and restricted cash used in operating activities:
Depreciation and amortization
1,806
1,984
7,111
5,725
Stock-based compensation
3,153
2,650
12,501
8,277
Change in fair value of warrant liabilities
1,698
(1,984
)
(2,125
)
(24,225
)
Impairment of intangible assets
20,753
—
20,753
—
Realized (gain) loss from sales of short-term investments
(103
)
91
(8
)
2,162
Realized foreign exchange loss
—
(1
)
6
6
Accretion of interest income on held-to-maturity securities
(1,803
)
(783
)
(6,519
)
(1,094
)
Deferred tax benefit
(1,023
)
(772
)
(1,466
)
(772
)
Loss on disposal of property and equipment
48