Plan to Deliver With Drones Could Soon Become Reality

(Source: India Times, Economic Times)  

Plans by companies such as Amazon to deliver goods through drones could soon become reality as India’s civil aviation regulator has changed its stance and started working on norms to allow commercial use of drones in the country.

“We are studying norms allowing commercial use of drones by a few countries in the world. We are working on norms and these will be notified in the next two months,” said a Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) official on the condition of anonymity.

The official added that the regulator is working on a framework that ensures use of drones without compromising on safety.

This change in DGCA’s stance has come after countries like the United States, Australia and New Zealand have notified rules for commercial operations of drones. The aviation regulator had in October last year banned the use of drones for commercial purposes since the International Civil Aviation Organisation did not have any standards for operations of drones.

The concept of delivery through drones has picked up recently after companies such as Amazon announced that they would use drones for packages that are relatively light.

Amazon had showcased in the US its Prime Air drone, an octocopter (a drone fitted with eight rotors) in December 2013. The company had said it was developing drones to carry payloads of up to 2.26 kg. It had also said that products within this weight range such as mobile phones and books would likely be delivered within this weight range such as mobile phones and books would likely be delivered within 90 minutes to three hours for select customers and cover 86% of products sold by the e-tailer.

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