This fall, 50 airports will begin providing Low Altitude Authorization and Notification Capability (LAANC), which will give UAS operators the ability to “apply for instant, digital approval to fly in U.S. controlled airspace using the same applications they use for flight planning and in-flight situational awareness.”

Currently, FAA authorization is required for flights in controlled airspace, at certain times of day, or near sensitive locations. Authorization requests are subject to long waiting periods and labor-intensive manual approvals, which can add more time to, or entirely halt, the process of trying to fly UAS commercially.

With this in mind, the FAA enlisted the help of 12 companies to evaluate how third party vendors can help the administration provide automated authorization for safer and more efficient UAS operations at scale.

​AirMap, a provider of an airspace management platform for UAS operators, was one of those companies.

Via an article from Forbes, AirMap co-founder Greg McNeal says “the significance of the LAANC project can’t be overstated.”

McNeal adds that the LAANC project is the first step in the implementation of Unmanned Traffic Management (UTM), which is the “federated technological infrastructure that will facilitate data exchange and air traffic control for drones.”

According to AirMap, LAANC began this summer with the FAA’s release of UAS facility maps that show specific areas and altitudes near 300+ airports where UAS operators can request airspace authorization more effectively and efficiently.

These facility maps were available to commercial UAS operators on the AirMap platform within 24 hours.