The Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand (CAAT) has hosted media at an event to promote the integration of delivery drones in national airspace. CAAT intends to trial the service by the end of the year.
On April 25, CAAT Director Air Chief Marshal Manat Chavanaprayoon presented the ‘drone innovation ecosystem’ at Wangchan Valley, Rayong Province, which is an uncrewed aerial systems (UAS) Regulatory Sandbox area that allows all sectors to test, research, and develop various UAS-related technologies.
Air Chief Marshal Manat explained that CAAT has a UAS Portal system (uasportal.caat.or.th) that registers drone operators and registers drones via a fast online system and said it is ready to support airspace management for drones in the future.
CAAT has worked with various sectors to create the Drone Master Plan which is a roadmap for Thailand that includes details on policies, laws, and personnel development. CAAT will now begin certifying training centres and training courses for UAS operators, creating personnel with the knowledge of aviation, laws, and regulations related to drone flying, and the skills and expertise to use drone technology safely.
It is a CAAT policy to “promote the use of delivery drones in urban areas by 2025”. Currently, CAAT has cooperated with the National Telecom Public Company Limited, Thailand Post Company Limited, Aeronautical Radio of Thailand Company Limited, relevant agencies, and interested private sectors to plan areas and methods for testing the use of delivery drones in Bangkok. In the future, CAAT will consider issuing licenses for the use of delivery drones to private sectors that are ready.
The April 25 event included a demonstration of the use of delivery drones by Avilon Robotics Company Limited and a presentation of the uncrewed traffic management system by Delve Aerospace Company Limited.
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