FutureFlight On The Radar
UK Publishes Airspace Integration Manifesto To Unlock Potential for New Air Transportation Use Cases
UK Research and Innovation's Future Aviation Industry Working Group has published a detailed list of steps needed over the next five years to integrate new aircraft and business models into the national airspace.

The UK’s Future Aviation Industry Working Group (FWIAG) recently published a three-to-five-year manifesto regarding a strategic airspace integration plan it says could unlock the potential for more efficient air transportation. The "Let’s Get Flying: Our Plan For Action" document addresses how new aircraft, including eVTOL vehicles, could benefit from greater operational flexibility while not reducing access to existing airspace users. It also tackles how crewed and uncrewed aircraft can safely coexist and how to remove “the need for airspace users to understand and comply with an increased complexity of airspace that a segregated approach would cause.”

The plan, which is intended to support the UK Civil Aviation Authority’s wider airspace modernization strategy, lays out 18 sets of actions organized around three themes: accelerating speed to market, establishing economic models, and clarifying roles and responsibilities. These map out envisaged requirements to reshape regulations, standards, operating models, and infrastructure, as well as establish economic models for needs such as air traffic and flight information services, pilot training, "detect and avoid" technology, and airspace user charges.