European drone industry targets 5 million daily BVLOS flights by 2030

BVLOS operations let a drone fly without the pilot keeping direct visual contact with the aircraft. That matters for infrastructure inspection, logistics, surveillance of large areas and emergency response. Making them commonplace would turn many one-off missions into recurring, economically viable industrial services.

The proposal is part of a joint initiative by JEDA, Alliance for New Mobility Europe, Drone Alliance Europe and the Global UTM Association. The groups want progress measured with concrete indicators, such as the number of flights, the time needed to launch new services and the ability to operate in several member states.

Barriers and enablers

One of the main obstacles is the uneven application of the common regulatory framework across countries, which sometimes forces operators to repeat assessments or meet extra requirements. The industry is calling for greater recognition of equivalent authorisations and better coordination between authorities.

It also considers electronic visibility, or e-conspicuity, essential. It allows aircraft to be identified and their position in the airspace to be known. The same goes for rolling out U-space, the European system for digital drone traffic management. Spain already has a working group on e-conspicuity drafting a national and European roadmap.

The sector also wants any new measures to come with clear owners, deadlines, verifiable targets and enough resources.

Marta García, president of ECUAS Drones, said Europe has made a huge effort to build a common framework, and that it now needs to allow more flying, new services and growing companies. Five million daily flights may sound very ambitious, she said, but it reflects the scale the industry needs to become a real, competitive economic activity.