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Twente Airport, by Archangel12, CC BY 2.0
Integration of Approval Services Platform Enables Seamless, Digital Flight Requests and Enhanced Safety for Manned and Unmanned Aircraft
Altitude Angel, a Reading, UK-based Universal Traffic Management (UTM) provider focused on integrating drones and other UAVs into international airspace, recently announced that they’d partnered with the Twente Airport and the Space53 drone innovation cluster to start out utilizing their unique Approval Services platform. This can allow drone operators, (and, in the longer term, eVTOL (electronic Vertical Take Offf and Landing) pilots), to submit flight requests and pay for services inside Twente Airport’s airspace digitally and seamlessly.
Twente Airport is the primary airport within the Netherlands to adopt this technology, which has already seen extensive use across the UK in international airports, regional helidromes, and heliports. With its varied terrain and huge managed airspace, Twente provides the right testbed for each crewed and uncrewed operations, having already hosted trials (in collaboration with Space53) for the Royal Netherlands Air Force, the national police force, and Twente Fire and Rescue Service.
Mike Holsheimer, program manager of Space53 on the deployment of Approval Services, said, “As our drone partners are increasingly conducting beyond-visual-line-of-sight (BVLOS), inside Twente Airport’s airspace, having only one source where the right and real-time information could be found, showing each manned and unmanned activity, is crucial to make sure safety in and across the airport.”
Gerben Groothuis of Twente Airport added, “Altitude Angel’s Approval Services platform gives us the understanding we’d like to permit drone activity alongside that of manned aircraft. As the necessity for more unmanned flights arises for eVTOL and drone operators, the Approval Services platform will allow us to scale up our operations quickly, easily, and safely.”
Paul deHaan, Altitude Angel NL, Managing Director, commented, “Through the adoption of Approval Services, Twente Airport is enabling the following generation of airspace users – without doing so on the expense of existing operations. Crewed and uncrewed aircraft can share the identical skies, safely and securely, if the appropriate platforms and technology are deployed. Approval Services gives Twente Airport the flexibleness to approve drone operations by allowing drone operators to submit flight plans, which happen partly wholly or partly, inside an airport’s controlled airspace, quickly and securely, bringing together traditional air traffic control systems with digital unified traffic management solutions.”
More information on Altitude Angel is on the market here.
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