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1. Milestone FAA Approval
Company: Delta TechOps
Product: Delta TechOps received FAA acceptance this year to add drone inspections into the Aircraft Maintenance Manual for its entire mainline fleet. The airline says it is the first U.S. commercial operator to obtain such approval, and it can now operate drones indoors and outdoors at its maintenance facilities in Atlanta, Detroit and Minneapolis. It has been trialing drone inspection technology since 2017 and now operates two drones—dubbed Reba and Dolly—in partnership with Dutch drone specialist Mainblades. Delta TechOps says the technology helps technicians and inspectors make decisions on aircraft conditions up to 82% faster.
2. Expansion Plans
Company: Donecle
Product: Donecle raised $6 million in new funding last year to expand the company and increase its drone production to four per month. It plans to launch a second fundraising round next year to support continued growth, including its new office in Toulouse and its plans to open a U.S. subsidiary in Chicago. Donecle’s drones are now in the Boeing 737 Aircraft Maintenance Manual and the company is working to expand that milestone to other aircraft types. Two of Donecle’s customers recently secured regulatory acceptance to perform drone-based general visual inspections and lightning strike inspections, including a U.S. operator and Switzerland-based Jet Aviation, which received acceptance from the Swiss Federal Office of Civil Aviation for all of the aircraft it handles, including Airbus, Boeing, Bombardier, Dassault, Embraer and Gulfstream platforms.
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3. Approaching Swarm
Company: Korean Air
Product: Korean Air began developing unique inspection technology utilizing a swarm of drones in 2017, and the airline is now in a development phase for the technology through a government initiative. Next year it expects to finish fabricating and evaluating the technology’s components, including drones, rovers and artificial intelligence software. In 2026 it plans to integrate and validate the technology in simulated environments using decommissioned aircraft, with the goal of conducting airport demonstrations in Korea by 2027. Korean Air has previously stated that the drone swarm technology reduces inspection time by 75% compared to deploying a single drone.
4. Outdoor, Paint Peeling Use Cases
Company: Mainblades
Product: In addition to its customer Delta TechOps receiving FAA acceptance earlier this year, Dutch drone specialist Mainblades is eyeing new regulatory milestones and use cases. For instance, the company is working with partners in the Asia-Pacific to prove outdoor inspection use cases in Singapore, where many MRO hangars do not have doors. Mainblades has been working with Lufthansa Technik Philippines and is looking to expand to other Lufthansa Technik facilities. The company is also working with KLM Royal Dutch Airlines to use artificial intelligence-powered drone inspections to address headaches related to aircraft paint peeling.
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