UK CAA Plans Modernized Airspace Integrating eVTOL, Drones and Other Aircraft
2024/07/29
The UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has launched a plan to modernize the country’s airspace by 2040 through investment in aviation infrastructure.
During the 2024 Farnborough International Airshow, the CAA released Airspace Modernisation Strategy, Part 3: Deployment Plan, outlining the essential activities and milestones the industry and regulators must achieve over the next seven years.
“Aviation is going through a technological revolution, and it’s vital that our airspace evolves with it,” said UK Aviation Minister Mike Kane. “We have an analogue airspace in a digital age, designed closer to the time Yuri Gagarin reached for the stars. The time for change is now.”
The detailed plan includes integrating “new airspace users”—such as space launch, drones, and vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) aircraft—into the existing ecosystem. It also addresses the need for services that support all airspace users.
Among the solutions under consideration, the CAA is studying technologies and deployment approaches that would enable all aircraft to detect and avoid one another.
During the 2024 Farnborough International Airshow, the CAA released Airspace Modernisation Strategy, Part 3: Deployment Plan, outlining the essential activities and milestones the industry and regulators must achieve over the next seven years.
“Aviation is going through a technological revolution, and it’s vital that our airspace evolves with it,” said UK Aviation Minister Mike Kane. “We have an analogue airspace in a digital age, designed closer to the time Yuri Gagarin reached for the stars. The time for change is now.”
The detailed plan includes integrating “new airspace users”—such as space launch, drones, and vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) aircraft—into the existing ecosystem. It also addresses the need for services that support all airspace users.
Among the solutions under consideration, the CAA is studying technologies and deployment approaches that would enable all aircraft to detect and avoid one another.