The Federal Aviation Administration has awarded Standard Part 135 Air Carrier Certification to Causey Aviation Unmanned (CAU), a long-time partner of drone operator Flytrex, to operate and complete long-range on-demand commercial drone deliveries in the US.
According to the press release, this milestone comes after years of training and testing to verify that Flytrex’s drone delivery service maintains the highest safety standards. With this part 135 Certification, Flytrex and CAU plan to further expand their drone delivery service nationwide – eventually offering food, drinks and other goods to the more than 82 million eligible back and front yards across the US. This approval has been granted to a prestigious list of select companies – including Amazon Prime Air, Alphabet’s Wing, UPS and Zipline – to date.
In September 2022, Flytrex opened its fifth U.S. drone delivery station in Durham, North Carolina. Durham marked the fourth station in the ‘First in Flight’ state, joining three other operational stations in Fayetteville, Raeford, and Holly Springs; and prior to this, Flytrex expanded its drone delivery service to Granbury, Texas, just outside of Dallas-Fort Worth. The services operate in cooperation with CAU – delivering tens of thousands of items to hundreds of thousands of homes across its service areas.
Since successfully launching the fully autonomous urban drone delivery system in Reykjavik, Iceland, in 2017, Flytrex and CAU have been working closely with regulators to help ensure the highest safety standards in getting drone delivery off the ground. Together, they participated in the FAA’s UAS Integration Pilot Program (IPP), which concluded in October 2020, as well as the FAA’s subsequent initiative, BEYOND, working with the North Carolina Department of Transportation to help tackle the remaining challenges of UAS integration – bringing swift, affordable and sustainable on-demand drone delivery to more partners, communities and consumers across the country.
For more information visit:
