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Transportation United States

UPS Gets FAA Approval To Operate an Entire Drone Delivery Airline (techcrunch.com) 25

UPS said today that it is the first to receive the official nod from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to operate a full "drone airline," that will allow it to expand its current small drone delivery service pilots into a country-wide network. From a report: In its announcement of the news, UPS said that it will start by building out its drone delivery solutions specific to hospital campuses nationwide in the U.S., and then to other industries outside of healthcare. UPS racks up a number of firsts as a result of this milestone, thanks to how closely it has been working with the FAA throughout its development and testing process for drone deliveries. As soon as it was awarded the certification, it did a delivery for WakeMed hospital in Raleigh, N.C. using a Matternet drone, and it also became the first commercial operator to perform a drone delivery for an actual paying customer outside of line of sight thanks to an exemption it received from the government. This certification, officially titled FAA's "Part 135 Standard certification," offers far-reaching and broad license to companies who attain it -- much more freedom than any commercial drone operation has had previously in the U.S.
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UPS Gets FAA Approval To Operate an Entire Drone Delivery Airline

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