German drone delivery provider Wingcopter has collaborated with All Nippon Airways to build a drone-based delivery network for pharmaceuticals and other consumer goods in Japan.

Wingcopter will provide its drones as well as pilot training, project planning, and maintenance. The service would initially begin on the Goto Islands in the Nagasaki Prefecture, with plans for full commercialization by 2022. 

The first phase of testing took place in late March, conducting supervised flights between Fukuejima and Hisakajima, Goto City, demonstrating the viability of drones for medical supply deliveries.

The news comes just three weeks after its US-based drone delivery rival, Zipline, partnered with the Toyota Tsusho Corporation, a subsidiary of the Toyota Group, to deliver medical supplies using drones to remote areas in Japan. Another US-based rival, Matternet, also expanded to Japan last September via a partnership with Japan Airlines to deliver medical supplies starting in the Tokyo metropolitan area.

Wingcopter is a drone delivery startup engaged in transporting medical supplies to remote health facilities and food and other parcels to private customers. The company is an Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) of drones and also offers drone Delivery-as-a-Service. In addition to inter-office parcel delivery trials at the Frankfurt University of Applied Science, Wingcopter has a presence in international markets, including Kenya, Vanuatu, Malawi, Tanzania, and Ireland, to provide drone-based medical deliveries.