FAA Grants Zipline First-Ever Approval for Drone Delivery Airspace Traffic Management System

Zipline announced on August 07, 2024, that it has received the first-ever FAA approval for its Uncrewed Aircraft System Traffic Management (UTM) system. 

“Ahead of massive industry growth and expansion, the FAA just announced a first-of-its-kind approval for Zipline that lets us easily work with other drone operators to keep flights safe,” said Chris Lyons, Head of UTM, Zipline.

Unlike traditional aircraft, drones currently lack a centralised air traffic control system. To ensure safe operations, drone operators often rely on manual coordination, which becomes increasingly complex as the number of drones increases. 

Zipline’s UTM system enables seamless coordination among drone operators, ensuring safe and efficient flight paths. By sharing flight plans and real-time data, operators can avoid conflicts and optimise airspace utilisation.

“Every time you fly commercially your pilot talks with an air traffic controller to make sure it’s safe to take off; that the flight won’t overlap with another plane’s route; and that when you arrive it’s safe to land,” Chris Lyons.

“Drones aren’t managed by air traffic controllers. Instead, professional drone operators work with each other to fly safely. Right now, that is sometimes as manual as calling or texting each other about upcoming flights that are nearby. It works, but as drone delivery rapidly expands, a better way is needed.”

Zipline’s UTM system automates many of these manual processes, enabling faster and safer flight planning and execution.

“Zipline has put years of work into improving and strengthening the processes needed to make commercial drone delivery flights easy to increase in volume while maintaining safety and regulatory compliance,” said Chris Lyons.

“As drone operations scale, automating these processes becomes an essential investment.”

Zipline emphasises the importance of collaboration in developing a successful UTM system. “To be successful, UTM requires collaboration,” said Chris Lyons, Head of UTM. 

“UTM has matured into a critical part of aviation thanks to the hard work and joint-efforts of regulators like the FAA, other operators, global standards groups like ASTM, and innovative organizations like NASA and GUTMA.”

With this approval, Zipline is positioned to play a pivotal role in shaping the future of drone delivery. The company’s UTM system is expected to accelerate the adoption of drone technology across various industries.

Zipline outlined they can now start using their UTM product in the U.S. – they have integrated it into their U.S. operations and are ready to bring it to areas they intend to soon serve, like Dallas.

“This lets us leverage our expertise and learnings from flying more than 80 million commercial autonomous miles to make the entire industry safer at scale.”