It can take a long time to deliver urgently needed medications or other articles to difficult-to-reach regions such as islands or mountainous areas. DHL has managed to integrate a transport drone – the so-called Paketkopter – into package delivery logistics. From January to March 2016 the third generation of the Paketkopter was successfully tested in the town of Reit im Winkl. By means of a specially developed Packstation – the Parcelcopter SkyPort – private customers on the Winkelmoosalm could try out the system. The packages were automatically placed in the SkyPort, enabling them to be sent and received directly by Paketkopter.
It took the drone just eight minutes to travel the 1,200 meters from the valley to the mountain location – it would have taken the recipients 30 minutes to pick up the package by car in the winter. In future, the Paketkopter could be used to deliver packages to older and less mobile people as well as for urban goods transport to relieve conventional transport routes.