The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has launched the third release of its digital space for the exchange of information on air taxis and drones with a focus on sustainability and geographical information.
The Innovative Air Mobility (IAM) Hub was launched in December 2023 and enables cities, regions, national authorities, operators, and manufacturers that have a role in the introduction of these air taxi and drone services to connect. They can then share and obtain reliable information and data.
The third release contains an updated version of the list of approved drones for EU operations. There is now a direct link for registration and guidelines for drone manufacturers.
There is also a new section on the sustainability of drones and eVTOLs. In order to manage the environmental impact of drones and eVTOLs the Agency developed the initial version of its standard methodology called Environmental Footprint Aviation (EFA) for Delivery Drones. The methodology is following the Commission Product Environmental Footprint framework of the European Commission and is open for consultation until 27 August in the EASA Comment Response Tool.
Other new features include new geographical information on the IAM Hub that allows users to view statistical drone operations and population density from the EASA Member States as well as a test case for Geo Zone information from Portugal.
Guidance material has also been added, for example on how to access financial support and get EASA design verification for drones.
The website now has a new start page to include quick links to “Getting started”, “Flying a drone for fun” and “Flying a drone for work”.
The IAM Hub project is funded by the European Commission and the European Parliament. It is Flagship Action Number 7 of the European Commission Drone Strategy 2.0 to enable a smart and sustainable EU drones market.
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