Airspace World: Faster drone flight approvals with Frequentis’ automated tool in Lithuania

Oro Navigacija, the air navigation service provider (ANSP) of Lithuania, is extending its Frequentis uncrewed traffic management (UTM) solution with a digital, automated, risk assessment tool to speed up the classification of the risk posed by a drone flight in the specific category of operations and for the identification of mitigations and of the safety objectives.

The digital application from skyzr, a member of the Frequentis Group, provides unique automated risk analysis support for drone operators. It is designed to create Specific Operations Risk Assessment (SORA) according to the guidelines defined by the Joint Authorities for Rulemaking of Unmanned Systems and European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), cutting operator process time by up to 75 per cent, says the company.

The service, called wingman, will be provided as a web and mobile friendly application to be integrated into the future Lithuania UTM system, once deployed and operational. It follows the strategy to create a complete drone environment as a ‘one stop shop’ for value added drone related services.

“In Lithuania, as with the rest of the world, the commercial need for scalable drone operations is increasing. Therefore, we are pleased to be able to support our Lithuanian drone industry by providing “wingman” as first additional value-add service to create digital risk assessments for faster flight permissions,” said Saulius Batavičius, CEO Oro Navigacija. “We are pleased to continue working with Frequentis by extending our current UTM service portfolio, harnessing their experience from other drone integration projects, while incorporating the specific needs of our airspace.”

In June 2023, Oro Navigacija selected Frequentis to provide its proven UTM solution for safe, efficient, and conformant introduction of drones into Lithuanian airspace as drone use cases grow.