UPS Gets FAA Nod for Widespread Drone Deliveries
01 Octobre 2019 - 4:49PM
Dow Jones News
By Andy Pasztor
United Parcel Service Inc. said it received the
first-of-its-kind federal approval to start setting up a fleet of
unmanned aircraft to deliver health supplies and eventually
consumer packages potentially throughout the U.S.
In the latest regulatory boost for expanded commercial drone
services, the company also intends to gradually phase in routine
night flights and heavier cargo limits -- areas now generally
off-limits to most operators.
Under the Federal Aviation Administration's announcement
Tuesday, the company's Flight Forward unit obtained an immediate
green light to ship medical products and specimens in Virginia
across various hospital campuses. But the broad approval for an
entire fleet of future drones and pilots on the ground -- going
beyond what the FAA approved previously -- opens the door for many
other types of longer-range applications spanning rural and
suburban areas. The FAA approval doesn't apply to urban areas.
Calling it a major step to enhance services for health-care
customers and ultimately an array of other industries, the company
said the FAA's approval "has no limits on the size or scope of
operations." UPS said it already has started limited flying under
the new certification.
"It just gives us a lot of capabilities," David Abney, the
company's chairman and chief executive, said in an interview.
"We're going to move ahead quickly and expand rapidly," he said,
"It's not going to be a small operation." Within months, Mr. Abney
predicts the first phase could include 100 or more hospital
complexes.
As delivery options expand, the company said future steps may
include a single operator on the ground controlling multiple
flights, or using drones to supplement traditional package delivery
by trucks in rural areas.
The goal is to be the first drone operator to operate on a
sizable scale, Mr. Dabney added.
The FAA's move comes months after it gave Alphabet Inc.'s Wing
Aviation unit initial authorization to fly a fleet of drones for
consumer-goods deliveries. But that specific approval covered only
a rural area around Blacksburg, Va., and mandated detailed scrutiny
of applications for similar applications elsewhere.
By contrast, UPS said its certification offers a faster and
easier path to case-by-case approvals of new uses. If that process
proves successful, the latest step could set an important precedent
in the budding, fiercely competitive drone industry's quest to
dramatically step up the frequency and breadth of services.
Amazon.com Inc. and Uber Technologies Inc. are among those
companies vying for similar U.S. approvals to potentially transport
food and small consumer goods to residential customers. Many of
those firms have turned overseas to test preliminary delivery
systems, citing accelerated regulatory action from Australia to
Iceland to Switzerland.
Like Wing, UPS ultimately will be able to operate in the U.S. as
something akin to a small charter or cargo carrier using
conventional aircraft, featuring specific pilot-training programs
and accident-prevention procedures.
Mr. Abney also said UPS plans to invest in ground-based
technologies to better track drones, while partnering with
manufacturers to create new drone models.
But along with all other drone champions, the UPS initiative
still faces major hurdles to rapid growth until the FAA establishes
industrywide rules allowing flights over urban areas and sets
standards for remote identification of drones by law enforcement
and air-traffic control.
Those long-awaited regulations will be partly based on input
from real-world flights and pilot programs championed by the
Transportation Department and White House aides.
In a speech last month to an international drone conference in
Las Vegas, Daniel Elwell, the FAA's deputy administrator, said
those lessons learned are "lighting a creative fire in the
industry." In testimony to a House appropriations subcommittee last
week, Mr. Elwell said regulations establishing
remote-identification requirements -- viewed as the building blocks
of predictable drone industry growth -- initially were held up by a
host of technical issues. But now "the rule is moving, " he said,
as White House officials give the proposal a top-priority
review.
Meanwhile, operators can seek broad certification such as UPS,
or take up FAA invitations to apply for more-targeted waivers or
exemptions under existing rules.
Write to Andy Pasztor at andy.pasztor@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
October 01, 2019 10:34 ET (14:34 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2019 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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