The Global Uncrewed Traffic Management Association (GUTMA) has released its annual report, highlighting key developments, including the launch of the Civil Aviation Authorities (CAA) Network.
GUTMA expects a massive drone ecosystem to emerge, with more and more companies integrating drones and drone services into their value chains. “This drone ecosystem will only thrive if drones can fly automatically over longer distances,” GUTMA says “It is important to appreciate that UTM is a critical enabler for the safe and efficient operation of these drones at scale.”
GUTMA has around 50 members from 21 countries across North America, Europe, the Middle East, East Asia and Oceania. A high concentration of members can be found in the United States of America, Germany, Switzerland, Japan and Australia.
In June, a total of 22 countries came together for the second CAA Network meeting, with national CAA representatives from China, Greece and Japan joining as new members. The meeting was dedicated to GUTMA’s USS Data Sharing and Governance Agreement Template.The meeting provided CAAs with the opportunity to share their perspectives on their onboarding procedures and provide feedback on its application around the world. It was particularly observed that, where employed, the templatehelped decrease back-and-forth communications with service providers by standardizing documentation.
In addition to the launch of the CAA Network, the past twelve months have also seen GUTMA release a comprehensive document to advance the use of mobile networks in drone operations, addressing the evolving needs of drone operators and identifying ways to align these with the capabilities of mobile network operators.
At the beginning of 2025, GUTMA published the UTM Ecosystems’ Readiness Index Report 2024. “The report is the final outcome of the successful analysis conducted by Task Force leads Sebastian Babiarz (GUTMA Co-President) and Tomasz Kłosowicz (GUTMA Task Force leader), with the support of Koen De Vos (GUTMA Secretary-General) and the contributing industry expert Philip Butterworth-Hayes (Unmanned Airspace) and the diverse GUTMA members,” the report notes. “The report provides an in-depth global analysis of UTM ecosystem readiness levels at the national scale, highlighting best practices to enable commercial and scalable BVLOS drone services and areas that need improvement.”
GUTMA also developed the UTM Timelines to provide a global overview of the regulatory landscape for UTM.
GUTMA’s task forces have been making an impact, advancing global standards and fostering collaboration across the uncrewed ecosystem, ensuring interoperability and harmonisation of UTM systems. The annual report cites examples, such as that of the ASTM Standards Task Force, which issued recommendations that the ASTM Focus Group officially accepted, resulting in updates to the mapping of ASTM standards F3411-22a and F3548-21.
The association’s Harmonized Skies 2024 event proved to be a success, bringing together over 200 participants from every corner of the globe to shape the future of commercial drone operations. As the event came to an end, industry leaders and public sector representatives expressed a strong desire to continue their engagement. Consequently, GUTMA has announced it will host Harmonized Skies this coming November in Zurich and again in Tokyo in 2026.
GUTMA has also cooperated with various international initiatives over the past year, including contributing to standards and expert groups such as the International Civil Aviation Organization’s Advanced Air Mobility Study Group, which is working to produce a UTM manual by the end of 2025.
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