A new report published by DroneAnalyst called Historical Performance of the American UAS Industry, says the US commercial drone fleet grew by 39% in 2019. According to drone information company UAV Coach, DroneAnalyst’s new report was created from data shared by the FAA in its annual Aerospace Forecast, a report that updates key metrics from the last year and makes forecasts for the next 20 years for everything related to the US airspace, including drones.
DroneAnalyst predicted a tripling of the commercial drone market by 2023 in its previous year’s report.
UAV Coach highlights key findings from the DroneAnalyst report:
From 2018 to 2019, the commercial drone fleet* in the US grew by 39%, an amount that David Benowitz of Drone Analyst says is “relatively high.” The 39% growth rate for the commercial drone fleet far exceeds the FAA’s forecasts from their 2017-2018 annual report. That report projected that the commercial drone fleet would triple by 2023, with an average annual growth rate of 24.7%
While the commercial drone fleet surpassed the FAA’s projections, the consumer drone fleet’s growth has slowed considerably. In the FAA’s prior annual report, the consumer fleet had grown by 14%. This year’s report shows a growth of just 6% for 2018-2019, which represents a significant decline.
Despite stagnation in the consumer drone fleet, 2019 did see a significant milestone for the drone industry, with the number of registered drone pilots in the U.S. surpassing 1 million and reaching a total of over 1.1 million. These 1.1 million drone pilots own a total of 1.7 million drones.
*Commercial drone fleet refers to the total number of commercial drones registered in the US. The FAA defines a commercial drone as any drone that costs USD10,000 or more. The FAA defines a consumer drone as any drone that costs less than USD10,000.
To access the report visit: https://droneanalyst.com/historical-performance-of-the-american-uas-industry
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