Taking flight Te rere ki ngā rangi

Our paper aims to provide the drone — that is, unmanned aircraft (UA) — sector with a clear understanding of the Government’s role and strategic direction in safely integrating drones into the aviation system and broader transport system.

There are already more than 77,000 drones in New Zealand being used in a variety of ways and across many industries. New Zealand is a world leader in the UA sector due to our good safety regulations, the open way we work and our risk-based regulatory regime for drone operations. We want to retain these advantages and remain at the forefront of drone development by ensuring our approach to drone operations makes the most of the many opportunities they bring while addressing the challenges they trigger.

2019 Beehive media release Drones will help economy take off(external link)

In an integrated system, we will have confidence that all manned and unmanned aircraft are appropriately equipped and can operate safely in any given airspace. This means we need to address the challenges presented by safety, physical security, cyber security, privacy and enforcement.

The role of Government

To integrate drones into the transport system, the Government must:

• design regulation that is flexible and can evolve when circumstances change
• manage funding and investment to support changes in the transport system
• respond to changes in technology and infrastructure needed to support the integration of drones
• support research and development which can benefit drones and a range of other sectors. 

The paper outlines the responsibilities we have in this work and how we partner with 3 other government agencies — the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), Airways, and the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE). Senior staff from each agency have formed a UA Integration Leadership Group to provide strategic direction and oversight of the work. This group is supported by a cross-government forum that meets regularly and engages with the commercial drone sector.

How we have used Taking flight

‘Taking Flight’ has helped to inform the cross-government work programme on drones. We have since commissioned a study to quantify the benefits that drones could have for New Zealand.

Drone Benefit Study