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)   Three Months Ended March 31,         2024       2023     % Change Revenue $ 51,514     $ 45,271     13.8 % Cost of revenue $ 41,375     $ 38,107     8.6 % Software development   670       1,123     (40.3 )% General and administrative   17,209       16,257     5.9 % Selling and marketing   2,128       2,611     (18.5 )% Total operating expenses $ 61,382     $ 58,098     5.7 % Loss from operations $ (9,868 )   $ (12,827 )   (23.1 )% Net loss $ (4,234 )   $ (10,192 )   (58.5 )%             Gross profit $ 5,852     $ 3,229     81.2 % Gross profit margin   11.4 %     7.1 %   430bps NON-GAAP(1) FINANCIAL RESULTS(in thousands except percentages, unaudited)   Three Months Ended March 31,           2024       2023     Change   Revenue $ 51,514     $ 45,271     13.8 %   Cost of revenue   41,375       38,107     8.6 %   Flight Profit   10,139       7,164     41.5 %   Flight Margin   19.7 %     15.8 %   386bps   Adjusted SG&A   13,685       14,888     (8.1 %)   Adjusted SG&A as a percentage of Revenue   26.6 %     32.9 %   (630)bps   Adjusted EBITDA $ (3,546 )   $ (7,724 )   (54.1 %)   Adjusted EBITDA as a percentage of Revenue (6.9 )%   (17.1 )%   1,020bps                 Passenger Adjusted EBITDA $ (2,651 )   $ (3,055 )   (13.2 %)   Medical Adjusted EBITDA $ 4,409     $ 1,880     134.5 %   Adjusted unallocated corporate expenses and software development $ (5,304 )   $ (6,549 )   (19.0 %)   (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.   "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. (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 InformationBlade 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)   March 31,2024   December 31, 2023 Assets       Current assets:       Cash and cash equivalents $ 36,758     $ 27,873   Restricted cash   1,302       1,148   Accounts receivable, net of allowance of $127 and $98 at March 31, 2024 and December 31, 2023, respectively   23,550       21,005   Short-term investments   114,215       138,264   Prepaid expenses and other current assets   18,183       17,971   Total current assets   194,008       206,261           Non-current assets:       Property and equipment, net   3,468       2,899   Intangible assets, net   19,524       20,519   Goodwill   39,777       40,373   Operating right-of-use asset   24,576       23,484   Other non-current assets   1,439       1,402   Total assets $ 282,792     $ 294,938           Liabilities and Stockholders' Equity       Current liabilities:       Accounts payable and accrued expenses $ 10,836     $ 23,859   Deferred revenue   7,981       6,845   Operating lease liability, current   4,428       4,787   Total current liabilities   23,245       35,491           Non-current liabilities:       Warrant liability   1,480       4,958   Operating lease liability, long-term   21,101       19,738   Deferred tax liability   357       451   Total liabilities   46,183       60,638           Stockholders' Equity       Preferred stock, $0.0001 par value, 2,000,000 shares authorized; no shares issued and outstanding at March 31, 2024 and December 31, 2023, respectively   —       —   Common stock, $0.0001 par value; 400,000,000 authorized; 77,146,050 and 75,131,425 shares issued at March 31, 2024 and December 31, 2023, respectively   7       7   Additional paid in capital   397,477       390,083   Accumulated other comprehensive income   3,113       3,964