India is quickly moving to take its success in the area of drones to the next logical steps like using air taxis for urban mobility. Aviation authorities are tying up with international agencies to make the framework of rules to safely implement them same by devising air traffic management solutions; develop certification standards and putting in place the required infrastructure. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has signed a MoU with the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) for cooperation in unmanned aircraft systems and innovative air mobility. This comes on the heels of the two civil aviation authorities signing a letter of intent (LoI) on these two issues during the EU-India Aviation Summit held in New Delhi this April.
“This collaboration would include cooperation between DGCA and EASA in the areas of development of certification standards and environmental standards and related requirements for the certification and use of unmanned aircraft systems and innovative air mobility operations which includes licensing of personnel, training, air traffic management and infrastructure, including unmanned aircraft system traffic management (UTM) standards and services,” said a senior DGCA official.
“The MoU will also ensure regular information sharing between the two authorities on the technological developments and research in this area and also their respective strategies for outreach to relevant stakeholders. Further, the MoU will result in collaboration in conducting conferences, workshops, training programmers by DGCA and EASA in this area. The signing of this MoU is expected to result in harmonized standards and accelerated growth of the Indian unmanned aviation sector,” he added.
