CAAS, EASA and Airbus collaborate to advance safety of unmanned aircraft systems in urban environment

The Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS), the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and Airbus have agreed to collaborate in the development of safety standards and regulatory requirements for unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) in urban environments. The tripartite Project Document, which lays out the areas of collaboration, was signed by representatives from CAAS, EASA and Airbus.

The Project Document establishes a framework for the exchange of information and technical expertise among the three parties, to facilitate the development of safety standards and regulatory requirements, as well as operational and technological assessments for the deployment of UAS in urban environments, such as last-mile deliveries, leveraging Airbus’ experience with the ongoing Skyways project1. The parties will also share safety information and learning outcomes from the urban UAS trials. The parties also agreed to jointly organise UAS-themed activities such as educational workshops and seminars.

Mr Kevin Shum, Director-General at CAAS said, “This tripartite partnership is timely as we seek to better define the operating conditions for the growing number of beneficial uses of UAS in urban environments such as Singapore, with aviation and public safety in mind. We look forward to working closely with our partners and sharing our experience gained thus far in developing regulatory requirements for UAS operations in Singapore.”

Mr Patrick Ky, Executive Director at EASA said, “Unmanned Aircraft Systems used in urban environments will shape the future of public transport. We could not find better partners than CAAS and Airbus to develop safety standards for this growing and fascinating technological development.”

Mr Jean-Brice Dumont, Executive Vice President, Engineering at Airbus said, “Airbus has been growing our focus on autonomous air mobility, and this tripartite collaboration is a positive move to shape up the safety regulations of UAS in city environments, turning urban air mobility into a business reality for us. Today, our Skyways UAS has demonstrated its ability to deliver air packages in an urban city. With the strong support of both CAAS and EASA, coupled with our experiences from Skyways, we are confident that safe and reliable urban air delivery will become a reality very soon.”

[1] Skyways is an Airbus’ experimental project which aims to establish seamless multi-modal transportation networks in smart cities. Through Skyways, Airbus aims to develop an airborne infrastructure solution to address the sustainability and efficiency of parcel delivery businesses in large urban environments.