Page 25 - ARUBA TODAY

BUSINESS Wednesday 2 OctOber 2019
A25

UPS gets government approval to become a drone airline

By DAVID KOENIG company's chief strategy
AP Business Writer officer, said UPS will eventu-
DALLAS (AP) — UPS has ally apply for FAA permis-
won government approval sion to have a single opera-
to operate a nationwide tor fly multiple drones at the
fleet of drones, which will same time.
let the company expand The airline certificate lets
deliveries on hospital cam- UPS fly drones carrying
puses and move it one step more than 55 pounds, "but
closer to making deliveries we're not comfortable we
to consumers. have the hardware for that
Many regulatory obstacles yet," Price said in an inter-
remain, however, before view.
UPS — or other operators Operations will be limited
who are testing drones — to campus-like settings
can fill the sky over cities because FAA has not yet
and suburbs with drones written regulations to al-
carrying goods to people's low commercial drone
doorsteps. flights over populated ar-
United Parcel Service Inc. eas. Price said UPS is eyeing
said Tuesday that its drone "hundreds" of campuses in
subsidiary was awarded the U.S., including hospitals,
an airline certificate last colleges and office com-
week by the Federal Avia- plexes.
tion Administration, the first Price said the Wake Forest In this June 24, 2019, photo a UPS aircraft taxis to its hangar area after it arrived at Dallas-Fort Worth
U.S. company to get such a experiment has been suc- International Airport in Grapevine, Texas.
broad approval. cessful, with only "a few" Associated Press
Even before getting that drone flights canceled for
designation, UPS Flight mechanical problems or startups to develop com- Aviation. move into the residential
Forward, as the subsidiary because of bad weather. mercial-scale deliveries by Ryan Citron, a transporta- space more quickly," he
is called, has operated He said none have crashed. drone to consumers. tion analyst at Navigant, said, "but if there are some
more than 1,000 flights at With a special FAA exemp- Amazon.com CEO Jeff said UPS was not the best- major crashes or incidents
WakeMed's hospital cam- tion, the company operat- Bezos promised in 2014 known player in drones it could slow down the ap-
pus in Raleigh, North Caro- ed a drone flight there on that drones would be mak- — "Bezos gets more head- proval process. It's going to
lina. Friday beyond the sight of ing deliveries to people's lines," he noted — but the be an important test bed."
The designation removes the operator, which Price homes by 2019, but regu- company went about In the U.S., drone operators
limits on the size of the com- said was a first for a reve- latory and technological launching its subsidiary and have been frustrated by
pany's potential drone op- nue-generating delivery. hurdles proved too much seeking FAA approval. UPS the lack of FAA regulations
eration. Flight Forward can UPS believes the earliest for that prediction. Earlier has leapfrogged those ri- to allow drones to fly over
fly an unlimited number of commercially viable uses of this year, the FAA gave per- vals, at least for now, by urban and suburban areas,
drones, a key step toward drones will be for same-day mission for a unit of Google being able to offer services and to set rules for remote
expanding the operation. It deliveries, for augmenting parent Alphabet Inc. to in hundreds of campus set- identification of drones. The
can also fly drones at night truck-borne deliveries in make drone deliveries, tings. latter rule would help law
— the company plans to rural areas, and for larger but only in a tiny piece of Citron said that UPS' per- enforcement agencies,
do that after installing the drones that could carry southwestern Virginia. formance on hospital and which were given author-
necessary colored warning cargo of up to a ton from Other delivery companies college grounds will help ity under a law passed last
lights on each machine. one rural area to another. such as Germany's DHL Ex- determine how quickly reg- year to track, intercept and
However, UPS still faces se- Price said the latter idea is press are testing drones. ulators will approve con- destroy drones that they
vere restrictions before it still years away. UPS rival FedEx plans to sumer deliveries. deem a security threat.q
can run a large commer- Transportation Secretary take part in tests by the Al- "If everything works well, it
cial operation with drones. Elaine Chao called the phabet unit, called Wing gives them legitimacy to
For example, drones won't decision a step forward in
be allowed to fly beyond integrating drones into the
the sight of the operator U.S. airspace and maintain-
without an FAA exemption ing U.S. leadership in un-
for each route. Also, each manned aviation.
flight will need a separate UPS is racing against tech-
operator. Scott Price, the nology companies and