• Third quarter ended September 30, 2023 net cash from operating activities of $2.0 million, achieving positive Free Cash Flow⁽¹⁾ of $1.3 million in Q3 2023, an $8.4 million increase in net cash from operating activities and a $7.8 million increase in Free Cash Flow versus Q3 2022
• Net Income of $0.3 million, achieving Adjusted EBITDA⁽¹⁾ profitability of $0.8 million in Q3 2023
• Revenue up 56% versus the prior year to $71.4 million in Q3 2023
• Continued progress on strategic objectives including:
  • Implementation of on-tarmac security screening for connections to commercial airlines at Nice International Airport in France
  • The opening of an exclusive heliport in Atlantic City
  • The launch of a new organ placement service for our Medical customers
  • Our Canadian operator, Helijet, placed an order for the Beta Technologies Electric Vertical Aircraft

NEW YORK, Nov. 08, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Blade Air Mobility, Inc. (Nasdaq: BLDE, "Blade" or the "Company"), today announced financial results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2023.

"We are very pleased to deliver our first quarter of positive Free Cash Flow and Adjusted EBITDA while maintaining rapid revenue growth in both the Passenger and Medical segments," said Rob Wiesenthal, Blade's Chief Executive Officer. "Importantly, we've continued progress on strategic growth initiatives. We are especially pleased that our flagship urban air mobility service, Blade Airport, enjoyed continued improved financial performance with profitable passenger seat utilization for the first time during Q3 2023 while continuing its very strong growth in average check out price per seat."

At Nice International Airport, the opening of an on-tarmac security checkpoint will enable our fliers to bypass crowded terminals and proceed directly to their commercial airline gate. In Atlantic City, we've partnered with Ocean Casino to create an exclusive Blade heliport, allowing our fliers to land directly at the casino," added Wiesenthal

"Our turn to profitability this quarter highlights the results of our strong execution on growth initiatives coupled with relentless focus on cost efficiencies as we shrunk Adjusted Unallocated Corporate Expenses by 29.0% while still growing revenue 56% in Q3 2023 versus the prior year period," said Will Heyburn, Blade's Chief Financial Officer. "This hard work continues as we remain committed to expanding Flight Profit margins, optimizing our cost base and adding profitable new business lines like our new organ matching service to maximize Free Cash Flow generation. As a result, in 2024 we expect significant year-over-year improvement in Adjusted EBITDA; we plan to provide an outlook for 2024 and 2025 as part of our Q4 2023 earnings release."

"We have made great progress in optimizing our aircraft capacity purchase agreements to capitalize on our growing scale thus enabling Blade to benefit from the economic leverage of a more active accessible fleet. We are already seeing this translate to Flight Profit margin expansion in both our Medical and Passenger segments," stated Melissa Tomkiel, Blade's President. "This is a win-win for both our operators and our customers as we direct more flight hours to our most reliable and efficient aircraft providers."

"The launch of TOPS, our new organ placement service, comes by special request from our existing customer base," said Seth Bacon, CEO of Blade MediMobility. "This new business line brings us further upstream in the organ transplantation process by helping transplant centers determine if an organ is a match for a potential recipient. When paired with our existing logistics services, we can now provide even more seamless engagement, simplify the communication process for our customers, and increase opportunities for additional revenue."

Third Quarter Ended September 30, 2023 Financial Highlights

• Total revenue increased 56.3% to $71.4 million in the current quarter versus $45.7 million in the prior year period. On a pro forma basis, assuming Blade had owned Blade Europe in the comparable prior year period, revenue for the quarter ended September 30, 2023 would have increased approximately 25.5%⁽¹⁾ on a constant currency basis.
• Flight Profit⁽¹⁾ increased 68.1% to $15.6 million in the current quarter versus $9.3 million in the prior year period, driven by strong growth in our MediMobility Organ Transport business, the contribution from our Blade Europe acquisitions, and improved profitability across our U.S. Short Distance business.
• Flight Margin⁽¹⁾ improved to 21.8% in the current quarter from 20.3% in the prior year period, driven by increased use of dedicated aircraft in our MediMobility Organ Transport business line, which results in lower costs, the acquisition of Blade Europe, which operates at a higher average Flight Profit versus our corporate average, 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 48.9% to $30.4 million in the current quarter versus $20.4 million in the prior year period. Growth was driven by our acquisition of Blade Europe and growth in our other Short Distance business lines.
• MediMobility Organ Transport revenue increased 65.4% to $33.4 million in the current quarter versus $20.2 million in the prior year period, driven by the addition of new transplant center customers, continued growth with existing customers, and strong market demand.
• Jet and Other revenue increased 49.1% to $7.6 million in the current quarter versus $5.1 million in the prior year period driven by an increase in jet charter volume.
• Adjusted EBITDA⁽¹⁾ improved to $0.8 million in the current quarter versus $(4.5) million in the prior year period, and improved as a percentage of revenues to 1.1% in the current quarter from (9.9)% in the prior year period. The improvement was driven by a 123.8% increase in Medical Segment Adjusted EBITDA to $3.3 million in the current quarter, an 88.7% increase in Passenger Segment Adjusted EBITDA to $2.8 million and a $2.2 million improvement in Adjusted Unallocated Corporate Expenses and Software Development to $(5.3) million.
• Free Cash Flow⁽¹⁾ of $1.3 million in Q3 2023 increased $7.8 million versus Q3 2022.
• Ended Q3 2023 with $173.2 million in cash and short term investments.

Business Highlights and Recent Updates

• Announced Trinity Organ Placement Services, or TOPS, a new Medical business line helping transplant centers determine if an organ is a match for a potential recipient.
• Opened an on-tarmac security checkpoint at Nice Airport that will allow our fliers to bypass the terminal and proceed directly to the gate of their connecting flight after landing on a Blade helicopter.
• Partnered with Ocean Casino to create an exclusive Blade heliport at their Atlantic City, New Jersey casino. Charter service is available today and by-the-seat service, sponsored by Ocean Casino, is planned for Spring 2024.
• The operator for our Canadian business, operating as Helijet, placed an order for the Beta Technologies Alia Electric Vertical Aircraft which is expected to provide future quiet, emission-free air mobility service for Blade fliers in Canada.

(1) See “Use of Non-GAAP Financial Measures” attached to this release for further detail on adjustments to GAAP financial measures.

Conference Call
The Company will conduct a conference call starting at 8:00 a.m. ET on Wednesday, November 8, 2023 to discuss the results for the third quarter ended September 30, 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.

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, Free Cash Flow and Pro forma revenue 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 net 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 Net Income (loss) to Segment Adjusted EBITDA.”

Constant currency - The unaudited interim condensed consolidated financial statements included here are presented in U.S. dollars. However, Blade's international operations give rise to fluctuations in foreign exchange rates. To compare results between periods as if exchange rates had remained constant period-over-period and allow change in revenue to be evaluated without the impact of foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations, Blade has included results in constant currency. These are calculated by applying the current period exchange rates to local currency reported results for both the current and prior year.

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. Cost of revenue consists of flight costs paid to operators of aircraft and cars, landing fees, right-of-use ("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.

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

Pro forma revenue - Pro forma revenue gives effect to revenue from acquisitions that occurred after the commensurate period of the prior year as if they had been acquired on the first day of the commensurate period of the prior year. Pro forma change in revenue is calculated as the difference between the current reported GAAP revenue and the comparative period pro forma revenue. Management believes that discussing pro forma revenue contributes to the understanding of Blade's performance and trends, because it allows for comparisons of the current year period to that of prior years, normalized for the impact of acquisitions. Management believes that pro forma change in revenue assists in measuring the underlying revenue growth of our business as it stands as of the end of the current year period, which we believe provides insight into our then-current operations. Pro forma change in revenue does not represent organic revenue generated by our business as it stood at the beginning of the prior year period.

Financial Results

Key Metrics and Non-GAAP Financial Information

The following unaudited pro forma financial information presents what our revenue would have been if the Blade Europe business had been acquired on July 1, 2022 and January 1, 2022 for the three months and nine months ended September 30, 2022, respectively. As a result, pro forma revenue includes revenue generated during periods when we did not yet own the acquired business. This unaudited pro forma financial information should not be relied upon as being indicative of the historical results that would have been obtained if the acquisition had occurred on that date, nor the results that may be obtained in the future.

__________
(1) 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 organ ground transportation revenue using the Company's owned cars.

__________
(1) Represents certain legal and regulatory advocacy fees for matters (primarily the proposed restrictions at East Hampton Airport and the potential operational restrictions on large jet aircraft at Westchester Airport) that we do not consider representative of legal and regulatory advocacy costs that we will incur from time to time in the ordinary course of our business. It is worth noting that we do not anticipate incurring any further legal fees related to the Westchester litigation.
(2) Represents contingent consideration compensation for the three months and nine months ended September 30, 2023 of $2,700 and $5,700, respectively, in connection with the Trinity acquisition in respect of 2023 results and a $339 credit recorded in connection with the settlement of the equity-based portion of Trinity's contingent consideration that was paid in the first quarter of 2023 in respect of 2022 results.
(3) In the three months ended September 30, 2022, the short-term incentive plan was approved, and accordingly, an accrual attributable to the nine months ended September 30, 2022 was recorded in the quarter. The accrual related to the six months ended June 30, 2022 was added back to the three months ended September 30, 2022 to allow for a more meaningful comparison with the current period.

__________
(1) Represents certain legal and regulatory advocacy fees for matters (primarily the proposed restrictions at East Hampton Airport and the potential operational restrictions on large jet aircraft at Westchester Airport) that we do not consider representative of legal and regulatory advocacy costs that we will incur from time to time in the ordinary course of our business. It is worth noting that we do not anticipate incurring any further legal fees related to the Westchester litigation.
(2) Represents contingent consideration compensation for the three months and nine months ended September 30, 2023 of $2,700 and $5,700, respectively, in connection with the Trinity acquisition in respect of 2023 results and a $339 credit recorded in connection with the settlement of the equity-based portion of Trinity's contingent consideration that was paid in the first quarter of 2023 in respect of 2022 results.
(3) In the three months ended September 30, 2022, the short-term incentive plan was approved, and accordingly, an accrual attributable to the nine months ended September 30, 2022 was recorded in the quarter. The accrual related to the six months ended June 30, 2022 was added back to the three months ended September 30, 2022 to allow for a more meaningful comparison with the current period.

^{______________}
(1) Represents certain legal and regulatory advocacy fees for matters (primarily the proposed restrictions at East Hampton Airport and the potential operational restrictions on large jet aircraft at Westchester Airport) that we do not consider representative of legal and regulatory advocacy costs that we will incur from time to time in the ordinary course of our business. It is worth noting that we do not anticipate incurring any further legal fees related to the Westchester litigation.
(2) Represents contingent consideration compensation for the three months and nine months ended September 30, 2023 of $2,700 and $5,700, respectively, in connection with the Trinity acquisition in respect of 2023 results and a $339 credit recorded in connection with the settlement of the equity-based portion of Trinity's contingent consideration that was paid in the first quarter of 2023 in respect of 2022 results.
(3) In the three months ended September 30, 2022, the short-term incentive plan was approved, and accordingly, an accrual attributable to the nine months ended September 30, 2022 was recorded in the quarter. The accrual related to the six months ended June 30, 2022 was added back to the three months ended September 30, 2022 to allow for a more meaningful comparison with the current period.

About Blade Air Mobility

Blade is a technology-powered, global air mobility platform committed to reducing travel friction by providing cost-effective air transportation alternatives to some of the most congested ground routes in the U.S. and abroad. Today, the Company predominantly uses helicopters and amphibious aircraft for its passenger routes and is also one of the largest air medical transporters of human organs for transplant in the world. Its asset-light model, coupled with its exclusive passenger terminal infrastructure, is designed to facilitate a seamless transition to Electric Vertical Aircraft (“EVA” or “eVTOL”), which is expected to enable lower cost air mobility to the public 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, 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; the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and its related effects, 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; 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; 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, 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; 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
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Lee Gold
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