SkyPorts

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Skyports is accepted into the CAA’s Innovation Sandbox

Drone delivery service provider Skyports has announced today that it has been accepted into the UK Civil Aviation Authority’s (CAA) Regulatory Sandbox to trial beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) flights in non-segregated airspace.

The Regulatory Sandbox is a programme established by the UK CAA to create an environment where innovation in aviation can be explored in line with UK CAA core principles of safety, security and consumer protection.

Skyports, which specialises in operating end-to-end drone deliveries within the medical, e-commerce and logistics sectors, and the UK CAA will explore how regulatory approvals can be granted for drones controlled out-of-sight of the remote pilot to be flown safely within airspace that is shared with other aircraft, which is vital if permanent drone deliveries are to become a reality.

Duncan Walker, Chief Executive Officer at Skyports, said: “Using drone deliveries within supply chains can create significant time and cost savings.  The current COVID-19 crisis has highlighted the role that unmanned aircraft applications can play in keeping the flow of goods moving, especially medical products, limiting human contact and supplying hard-to-reach communities.

A critical step in enabling permanent drone delivery operations is being able to operate out of sight of the remote pilot in airspace used by others. Through this game-changing partnership with the UK Civil Aviation Authority, we will be trialling the integration of our technologically-advanced unmanned aircraft in this shared airspace to demonstrate that our drone deliveries can be operated safely alongside other aircraft.”

Frédéric Laugère, Innovation Services Lead at the UK Civil Aviation Authority, said: “Regularly operating unmanned vehicles beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) of their operator is a key requirement to maximise the benefits that they can deliver. We are delighted to start this new collaboration with Skyports and its partners, and working together to explore requirements under which regulatory approval of BVLOS operations could be granted. The public and the industry will undoubtedly benefit from the findings we generate and the insights we gain.”

Skyports Solution

During the trial, Skyports is working with leading technology partners Iris Automation and ARPAS-UK Member, Thales, and environmental partners RSK:

  • Integrating Iris Automation’s computer-vision-based Detect-and-Avoid (DAA) technology, called Casia, onto unmanned aircraft will enable Skyports’ drones to automatically understand the surrounding skies and independently react as if a pilot were on board to avoid mid-air collisions.
  • Thales will help Skyports with mission planning and flight management through its integrated unmanned aircraft system (UAS), SOARIZON, as well as provide cutting-edge, secure remote electronic identification through Thales Remote ID fitted to the drone so the aircraft can be tracked.
  • RSK will assist with applying its skills and expertise in environmental assessment, such as noise, air quality and carbon and social impact strategies.

UK CAA Regulatory Sandbox

The Regulatory Sandbox was launched in April 2019 to provide industry with the capability to test and trial innovative aviation solutions in a safe and controlled environment. Skyports joins other aviation innovators in the Sandbox, such as Amazon, Volocopter, Altitude Angel, NATS and sees.ai.

 

15th April 2020

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Skyports and Flock open up the skies for safe, fully-insured Drone Deliveries

2019 has been a good year for drone deliveries. Zipline has made over 10,000 drop offs of medical supplies in Rwanda, UPS gained FAA approval to operate a drone airline and now, Flock is working with Skyports to help safe and fully-insured global drone deliveries really take off.

Today we’re excited to announce we’re working with Skyports, to deliver a custom insurance programme for drone delivery, one that evolves as the company moves from testing in the UK, Belgium, Sweden and Finland all the way to widespread commercial use.

This news follows the launch of Flock Enterprise, our insurance offering tailored for the world’s largest drone fleets. To date we’ve insured over 3,000 commercial drone businesses with that number growing daily.

What the media had to say about the news…

Flock’s CEO, Ed Leon Klinger commented:

“Skyports is one of the truly groundbreaking companies reinventing the future of urban mobility. Our unique approach to real-time insurance will enable them to capitalise on granular risk insights to proactively mitigate flight risks, improve safety standards across their fleets, and reduce their insurance premiums.

“Flock Enterprise enables large drone companies to undertake increasingly complex flights and operations, from oil and gas inspections to autonomous package delivery. We’re proud that our technology is opening up the world’s airspace and accelerating growth of the industry.”

Skyports has operations in Europe, North America, Africa and Asia and has already agreed rooftop licenses for vertiports on 15 sites in London so far. They believe that drone flights from vertiports will be a regular occurrence in London as soon as 2021, with medical delivery services likely to be the first to market and passenger flights soon after.

On the partnership, Duncan Walker, Managing Director of Skyports added:

“Skyports philosophy is to partner with companies early on to ensure we meet our customers’ needs and Flock provides this service for us. We have big plans to expand our global drone delivery operations and vertiport infrastructure offering and our tailored insurance cover with Flock ensures we do this safely whilst keeping costs low for our customers.”

Our recent whitepaper into the emergence of exposure-based insurance for the drone industry reports that an increase in commercial activity will be the major driver in drones becoming a $100 billion market globally by 2020. The Skyports partnership signifies this shift is already underway and provides a glimpse into the future of urban mobility.

By Sam Golden

for Flock

October 17 2019