Airspace operates in the most urgent segment, handling organs, medical supplies, high-tech components and other sensitive cargo. The company uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to optimize routing and dispatching for faster, more accurate deliveries and has developed a network of independent but highly vetted on-demand drivers to ensure rapid dispatch. The median dispatch time is under 10 minutes, compared to the industry standard of about an hour, according to Coates.

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Say a heart needs to be delivered from San Francisco to Los Angeles. Using traditional methods, a logistics coordinator would call around to find available drivers, check flight schedules and piece together the fastest route. In contrast, Airspace’s algorithm would immediately determine that a flight from Oakland—just across the bay from San Francisco—to Los Angeles is the fastest and safest option, check to see if there’s capacity and book space on the flight—all in a matter of seconds. The system would then instantly dispatch the optimal driver to pick up the package and get it to the airport, ensuring the shipment arrives as quickly as possible.

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At the heart of Airspace's innovation is an AI-powered routing system that uses ensemble learning to optimize routing based on customers’ needs (safety versus speed versus cost versus emissions impact) to identify the perfect route for each shipment. The platform leverages the proprietary data that Airspace collects from its network of drivers and airline partners, as well as publicly available data—including weather, airline performance and airport conditions—to create optimized delivery routes. As a result, Coates says Airspace is 20% faster on coast-to-coast shipments, twice as likely to be accurate within a 30-minute window, and three times more likely to avoid major delays of three hours or longer. Airspace’s automation and digitization of many tasks has also reduced handling errors by about 80%.

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The San Diego-based company is strategically positioned to benefit from the underlying growth of the industries it serves, including health care (gene therapies, pharmaceuticals, medical devices), aerospace and defense, semiconductors and more, each of which are expanding at rates far surpassing GDP growth, according to Coates. As these sectors evolve, he says, companies are becoming more discerning in their logistics choices and are looking for partners to give them better information. That information includes real-time visibility and analytics, which helps them be more discerning when reserving time-critical shipping for the most urgent items and, at the same time, more effective when evaluating the positive financial impact of faster moves for higher-value packages.

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Segmentation of shipping needs also includes environmental considerations. Airspace offers a Green Router tool, which goes beyond simple comparisons of cost versus speed by integrating with customers' preset preferences and emissions-reduction targets, to automatically select lower-carbon options that still meet delivery time requirements. The tool also provides historical emissions data, allowing companies to track and report on their carbon footprint over time, a feature that's becoming increasingly important as businesses face pressure to disclose their environmental impact.

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Airspace’s focus in recent years has been on expanding its network internationally and augmenting the platform to evaluate new locations and new global airline and driver partners. The company has built out operations across Europe and Southeast Asia, recently announcing a hub in Penang, Malaysia, to better serve semiconductor customers. Looking forward, the company will continue to expand and has plans to offer its technology as a platform for customers to manage their own drivers. This innovation, set to be released by the end of the year, will allow customers to leverage Airspace's logistics technology for in-house operations.

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Coates says it is also exploring working with different delivery partners that range from boutique airlines to driver networks and even drone technology companies. Although details remain under wraps, it’s a move that suggests drones could become another option in Airspace's arsenal of delivery methods, potentially revolutionizing short-distance, time-critical deliveries.

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Whatever the mode or speed of transport, when it comes to getting an item from A to B, Airspace sees its role as “empowering the shipper with the tools they need to better control and optimize their most precious cargo,” says Coates. “We want to help choose the right partners and coordinate with those partners to make sure they know what they're supposed to be doing and that the packages that matter the most will arrive when, where and how they are needed.”

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