On Oct. 1, the FAA announced nine new partners to its Low Altitude Authorization and Notification Capability (LAANC) initiative, which is described as an “innovative collaboration between the FAA and the drone industry that provides near real-time processing of airspace authorizations for Part 107 drone operators nationwide who fly in controlled airspace.”

After the success of the FAA’s prototype, the initiative was simultaneously opened to other air traffic control facilities, as well as to new industry partners. A five-month onboarding process began back in April, resulting in nine new LAANC partners. Those partners are: Aeronyde, Airbus, AiRXOS, Altitude Angel, Converge, DJI, KittyHawk, UASidekick and Unifly.

These nine new LAANC partners join AirMap, Harris Corp., Project Wing, Skyward and Thales Group; all of which have already met the technical and legal requirements to provide LAANC Services.

LAANC uses airspace data—including UAS facility maps—that shows the maximum altitude around airports where the FAA may authorize operations under Part 107 in controlled airspace. Through the program, UAS operators are given the ability to interact with industry developed applications, and receive near real-time authorization from the FAA.

Considered a foundation for developing the UAS Traffic Management System (UTM), LAANC is now available at nearly 300 FAA air traffic facilities across the country, and covers approximately 500 airports.

Next year, the FAA will accept applications from parties interested in becoming LAANC service providers. Those applications will be accepted from January 7 to February 8 and from July 8 to August 9. The FAA says that this is not a standard government acquisition, as there is no Screening Information Request (SIR) or Request for Proposal (RFP) related to this effort.

Information on the application process can be found here.