On Monday 25 January, the signatory associations from the ‘We are all ONE in the sky’ initiative, which includes ERA, released an open letter to the Commission and member states. The letter welcomed the progress that has been made in the latest U-Space regulation, but importantly, it highlighted those outstanding areas that we all believe must be further analysed before the regulation is finalised.

These open issues where the group request additional clarification include:

• The concept of dynamic airspace reconfiguration between manned and unmanned traffic, including the segregation of airspace and safety implications.
• The 'Common Information Service' should be reinforced and explicitly required to be provided as 'single point of truth' and as the single point of access for information exchange.
• Concerns in respect of the provision of Traffic Information Services (TIS) at low altitudes.
• The responsibilities and liabilities to be borne by different actors.
• Business and financial aspects including cost of integration, best fit/avoidance of overlap with the SES2+ proposal and impact assessments all need further assessment.

The signatories remain committed to jointly developing a regulation that will provide a solid basis going forward to enable the development of a robust, safe, and efficient drone services economy and the benefits therein.

The letter can be accessed here [1].