Benzinga | Dec 2, 2021 10:14AM EST

Blade Acquires Exclusive Rights To Helijet's Scheduled Passenger Business In Canada For $12M

* Blade Air Mobility Inc (NASDAQ:BLDE), through its subsidiaries, has entered an agreement with Helijet International, Inc., and Helijet's subsidiary Pacific Heliport Services, Ltd., which operates and manages heliport infrastructure in Vancouver, Victoria, and Nanaimo, British Columbia.

* Under the agreement, Blade acquired exclusive rights to offer scheduled helicopter flights operated by Helijet and use passenger terminals at heliports controlled by PHS for a purchase price of $12 million.

* The agreement has an initial term through 2026 and will be automatically renewed for successive two-year periods.

* Helijet is currently operating at an annualized run-rate of about 50% of its pre-pandemic revenues of ~$15 million.

* Blade will utilize helicopters owned and operated by Helijet for scheduled service in Canada and the U.S. Pacific Northwest while preparing for the integration and transition to Electric Vertical Aircraft.

* "Blade intends to make investments in electric charging infrastructure at each location in order to support the future introduction of EVA, while continuing to grow our offering of affordable flights using conventional helicopters today," said CFO Will Heyburn.

* Price Action: BLDE shares are trading lower by 2.54% at $8.245 on the last check Thursday.