Kittyhawk has announced a collaboration with Jeppesen to start working towards being able to offer digital airspace authorization directly from the FAA into Kittyhawk’s platform. Upon FAA approval, Kittyhawk’s elite enterprise customers will be able to receive digital authorization to operate within thousands of square miles of airspace in near-real time and will be able to send digital flight plan notifications. According to Kittyhawk: “this will be a Low Altitude Authorization and Notification Capability (LAANC) implementation unlike any other LAANC implementation currently on the market,” streamlining the LAANC authorization process and delivering new levels of navigation data. “We’re approaching LAANC as more than just a faster authorization, but a critical piece to an effective drone operation,” said Jon Hegranes, CEO of Kittyhawk. “Real-time authorization without real-time visibility, enforcement, or compliance leaves more problems than solutions for commercial operators.”
Over the coming months, the FAA will release over 2,000 square miles of new airspace for drones to fly in densely populated areas and near airports; some of Kittyhawk’s enterprise customers estimate that they will be able to fly up to twice as many flights with LAANC versus what had been an up to 90-day manual authorization process.
