Airservices is expertly positioned to act as honest broker between all stakeholders as the growth of new players transforms Australia’s airspace.

Executive General Manager of Customer Service Enhancement Michelle Bennetts has outlined to the RPAS in Australian Skies Conference in Canberra how Airservices plans to harness the opportunity to shape a new era in Australian aviation.

“RPAS operators constitute a rapidly expanding and diversifying customer base for Airservices and we are proactively organising ourselves to be in a position to cater effectively to this rapidly growing segment of our industry,” Ms Bennetts said.

“We take the view that engagement and facilitation within the context of our necessarily strict safety culture will serve Australia well and nurture the economic and social possibilities of these new technologies”.

Ms Bennetts said that the Asia Pacific market is already almost the size of the Americas market and is forecast to be the biggest global market for RPAS within the next five years, which has implications for Australia.

“There is huge work ahead of us and no time to waste,” she said.

“The growth in the context of a necessarily risk-adverse aviation industry requires action now to ensure safe integration of new and existing airspace users.”

Ms Bennetts said Airservices has three major priorities for its Low Level Airspace Management Program – airspace boundary integration, information flows and airspace design and future route structures. Read the full speech here.