Skyward, a Verizon company, has been approved to give commercial drone operators access to controlled airspace with the Low Altitude Authorization and Notification Capability (LAANC) services from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The program will roll out this fall at Cincinnati International Airport (CVG), Reno (RNO), San Jose (SJC), and Lincoln (LNK) among others, says the company.

LAANC will enable businesses to access airspace that previously required the submission of a manual request for authorization, and it will automate the approval process.

Though the release of Part 107 significantly lowered the barrier to entry for companies that want to operate drones commercially, the rule also created an operational hurdle for companies in urban areas, especially for early adopters who had previously coordinated directly with local air traffic control.

[Image courtesy: Skyward]