Earlier today, Atlanta-based transportation and logistics bellwether UPS said it received the United States government’s first full Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) Part 135 Standard certification, which is required to operate a drone airline.
This follows a July announcement it made, when UPS formally launched its new drone subsidiary, UPS Flight Forward, small drone delivery operation initially within the hospital network space. UPS said in July that this offering serves as a continuation of the partnership between UPS and drone startup Matternet operating special drone healthcare deliveries of medical samples under FAA Part 107 rules at Raleigh, N.C.-based WakeMed hospitals, transporting samples, blood, and other biologics from a lab to another building in the WakeMed network in the Raleigh area.
Kate Gutmann, UPS Chief Sales and Solutions Officer, told LM in July that UPS has received inquiries from other hospitals and campuses specific to their healthcare needs.
“Prior to WakeMed, The UPS Foundation initially formed a partnership with the Global Vaccine Alliance and Zipline and funded and supported the use of drones in Rwanda,” she said. “We were also on the commercial side of that partnership, where we were providing initial advice and also monitoring the flights, so we have learned a lot through our operation with them.”
With the Part 135 Standard certification, UPS said it will initially further expand its drone delivery service to support U.S.-based hospital campuses and also provide solutions for non-healthcare sector customers, in which it will transport various items for shippers in different industries, and “regularly fly drones beyond the operators’ visual line of sight.”
Upon receiving the Part 135 Standard certification on September 27, UPS Flight Forward subsequently launched the first drone delivery flight by any company under Part 135 Standard at WakeMed’s hospital campus in Raleigh, N.C. And it said that flight, using a Matternet M2 quadcopter, was flown under a government exemption allowing for a “beyond visual line of sight” (BVLOS) operation, which, it said, marks a first in the U.S. for a regular revenue-generating delivery.
“This is history in the making, and we aren’t done yet,” said David Abney, UPS chief executive officer, in a statement. “Our technology is opening doors for UPS and solving problems in unique ways for our customers. We will soon announce other steps to build out our infrastructure, expand services for healthcare customers and put drones to new uses in the future.”
What’s more, UPS officials noted that the FAA Part 135 Standard certification is not limited by operational size or scope, explaining it represents the highest level of certification, which has not previously been attained by any other company. And they added that the certificate permits UPS Flight Forward to fly an unlimited amount of drones with an unlimited number of remote operations in command, which enables UPS to scale operations to meet customer demand. And it added that the certification also permits the drone and cargo to top 55 pounds and also fly at night, previous restrictions governing earlier UPS flights.
Additional sectors: A UPS spokesman told LM that the company is looking at a variety of industries in addition to healthcare and life sciences where it can add value and provide distinct benefits and competitive advantages to customers.
“As we evaluate industries for these services, we’re looking at the existing infrastructure and demands for speed,” he noted. “Drone delivery makes more sense in some areas than others. For example, drone service may not be efficient in dense urban areas where package deliveries are already concentrated.”
When asked about the competitive advantages this certification provides for UPS, the spokesman was direct.
“There is a lot of noise in this space, but here’s the difference: all of the other announcements you have seen so far related to demonstration flights or proof of concept testing,” he said. “We are past that stage. Now, we’ve received full drone airline certification from the FAA, which will allow us to rapidly scale this business to more hospital campuses and more customer use cases. I won’t speak about other companies, other than to say UPS is announcing a first-ever accomplishment.”
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