FutureFlight
European Aviation Groups Voice Concerns Over Autonomous Aircraft Integration
A coalition of 14 organizations tell the European Union that issues related to airspace management, communications, infrastructure, liability, and costs need to be hammered out for drone integration.
Farnborough Airport
The European Business Aviation Association has joined calls for further work to be done on how autonomous aircraft, including drones, can safely share the same airspace as private jets, like these parked at the London-area Farnborough Airport. (Photo: Farnborough Airport)

Efforts by the European Union (EU) to develop a high-level framework for the integration of drones and other autonomous aircraft into the airspace have drawn broad support from the aviation community. However, 14 organizations representing a cross-section of the industry are appealing to EU member states to iron out a number of issues related to airspace management, communications, infrastructure, liability, and costs.

The “We are all ONE in the sky” group—including commercial airlines, business aviation, general aviation, air traffic control, and pilot organizations, among others—issued an open letter to EU member states on January 25, calling the UAS traffic management, or U-Space, the latest draft of the regulation  “an important first step in establishing a performance-based and risk-based regulatory framework."