After receiving a Special Flight Operating Certificate from Transport Canada, Drone Delivery Canada (DDC) has become the first and only “pure play drone delivery company” to successfully complete beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) test flights under the oversight of Transport Canada. 

DDC’s Mission Control Centre in Toronto monitored and recorded telemetry for each flight in real time, from 2,500 kilometers away, as the flights took place in Foremost, Alberta.

The main systems tested during the flights were DDC’s proprietary FLYTE management system, its avoidance technology, and communications platform.

“This is a major milestone for our company,” DDC President Richard Buzbuzian says. “With this success in hand, we now have greater visibility than ever before to operate commercially.”

Tony Di Benedetto, CEO of DDC, adds, “the success of these flights now allows us to expand our testing with both new and existing clients that include large corporations and government organizations in Canada and abroad.”

The successful flights give DDC a major boost in its drive to commercialize its drone logistics platform, as the flights proved that DDC’s BVLOS technical capability has now passed the most important landmark.

According to the company, it is set to become “the first and only drone logistics compliant operator approved by Transport Canada,” which is expected to happen in Q4 of 2017, with commercial operations expected to follow in Q1 of 2018.