THE U-ELCOME PROJECT

12/07/2024

U-ELCOME PROJECT During the nights between July 8th and 10th, the first test flights using electric vertical take-off and landing drones for cargo transport were conducted from Malpensa Cargo City. The Technosky’s NIMBUS drone model completed an 8 km round trip to Barbarini & Foglia warehouse and a 7 km round trip to SEBI warehouse, transporting a small package. These operations were conducted while ensuring the continued operational status of Malpensa Airport.

These night test flights will be followed by additional flights operated by Telespazio with Dronus and other operators during fall 2024 as part of the Italian Demonstrative Cluster coordinated by ENAV. The objective is to explore Innovative Air Mobility to enable U-space U1 and U2 services provided by D-flight. The flight activities from Malpensa Cargo City might pave the way for future large-scale drone delivery services, optimizing delivery times, reducing CO2 emissions as an alternative to road transportation, thus promoting environmental sustainability and decarbonization.

These goals lie at the heart of the European project U-ELCOME (U-space European Common Deployment), coordinated by EUROCONTROL within the SESAR 3 Joint Undertaking consortium. This initiative is co-financed by the European Union under the CEF (Connecting Europe Facility) program, with SEA in the role of Coordinator of the Milan Sandbox. SEA collaborates with Italian project partners including ENAV, D-flight, EuroUSC Italia, Telespazio, TECHNO SKY and Dronus in planning and developing flight campaigns, and with ENAC on regulatory insights, authorization aspects, and the implementation of the Milan Sandbox.

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