COLOGNE, December 20, 2022 – The European Union Aviation Safety Agency has published its first set of Acceptable Means of Compliance and Guidance Material to support the harmonised, safe and efficient implementation of U-space across the European Union.
The term “U-space” has been adopted to describe the management of unmanned aircraft traffic to ensure the safe interaction with other entities using the same space in urban areas and any other location.
“This is a significant step for the drones’ service market, as U-space airspace and services implementation enables more complex and drone operations beyond the visual line of sight, such as drone operations in an urban environment, across the European airspace,” said Patrick Ky, Executive Director of EASA. “This major EASA deliverable would not have been possible without the active involvement of the European drone and aviation community. The implementation of U-space airspace and U-space services represents the first step towards the safe integration of manned and unmanned traffic in the airspace.”
The published document is the outcome of a collaboration led by EASA involving more than 30 experts and representatives of civil aviation authorities and industry. The AMC/GM for the U-space regulatory framework have been developed taking account of the latest developments from industry and U-space stakeholders and represent the state-of-the-art of the U-space concept, systems and technology. The AMC/GM comprehensively address the numerous aspects and actors of the U-space regulation, paving the way for a fair, efficient, safe, and secure implementation of U-space in Europe.
EASA is now looking forward to the next steps of the U-space implementation, which will formally commence throughout Europe as of January 26, 2023 with the entry into force of the U-space regulatory framework (Regulations (EU) 2021/664, (EU) 2021/665 and (EU) 2021/666).
In the near future, implementation will continue with the first U-space airspace designations and U-space service provider (USSP) certifications. Beyond the establishment of the regulatory framework, EASA will continue to actively contribute to the U-space implementation by certifying third country (non-EU) USSPs intending to deliver services in Europe.
The experience gained by all the U-space stakeholders along the initial implementations will further allow the Agency to improve the first set of AMC/GM and ultimately to refine the U-space regulatory framework according to the lessons learned from the first years of drone operations in the U-space.
