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Urban air operations

The challenges of Urban Air Mobility

Wednesday, 26 February 2020

Interview with Simon Hocquard, Director General of CANSO, about UAM Challenges.

What are the challenges the drone industry faces?
The biggest challenge facing the drone industry is safety, always has been and always will be. We need to make sure that safety is at least maintained and always improved. I think air transport is the safest method of transport that there is. We need to maintain that record, whatever the airspace users may or may not be. That is the first challenge and the second challenge is collaboration. Working together throughout the whole of the aviation industry is key to make this a success. Working solo is never a good answer, so collaboration is the second big challenge.

Who are main players in the industry?
Actually there are lot of different players, so coordinating all those different players is probably the biggest challenge rather than people not wanting to talk. The most important is, it should include the new drone operators in the new UTM service providers because they think differently and have different ideas. I think that the people who are involved in this industry for a long time, could actually learn from the new people and otherwise around as well. If you combine those two worlds together, the right answer globally would naturally occur.

What will be the role of CANSO?
I think CANSO, who are obviously the voice of air traffic management worldwide, can play a key role in bringing all those people together. It is not about leading, it is about making sure everybody works together, again for the right outcome.

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