AirShare integrates with FlyFreely for a safer airspace

New Zealand commercial drone operators using the FlyFreely drone management platform can now request access to controlled airspace, thanks to FlyFreely’s integration with AirShare.

FlyFreely is the first organisation to integrate with AirShare, Airways New Zealand’s UA traffic management (UTM) system which is used as an online hub for New Zealand drone users. FlyFreely is using AirShare’s public flight request and authorisation APIs to allow its users to request access to controlled airspace as part of its offering.

Sharon Cooke, CEO of Airways International Ltd which has developed AirShare, says this integration is an important step in achieving Airways’ vision to create the aviation environment of the future. 

“By designing AirShare to integrate with other systems, we’re creating an environment where the drone industry can innovate using the services and data made available through AirShare,” Ms Cooke says.  “We’re pleased to be enabling safe and effective drone management by collaborating with industry organisations – the integration of systems such as AirShare and FlyFreely will mean a safer and more efficient airspace for all participants.”

FlyFreely founder Dr David Cole says his organisation’s partnership with AirShare will provide its New Zealand customers with more streamlined planning and authorisation processes, which will integrate fully into their existing Part 101 and 101 workflows on the FlyFreely Drone Management Platform.

“Crucially, it will also save customers time and money, while ensuring consistency across all their operations,” he says.

Airways’ vision is for AirShare to operate in an ecosystem of connected systems, working together to deliver information and services to unmanned aircraft and industry stakeholders. By aggregating data from multiple and varied sources, a single source of the truth for airspace activity becomes possible, and new, innovative data services for the industry can be developed.

AirShare is continuing to develop public APIs to deliver new services such as traffic alerts, digital authorisations, dynamic airspace notifications and strategic deconfliction. 

About Airways 

Airways New Zealand is a world-leading commercial Air Navigation Service Provider (ANSP), looking after key aviation infrastructure around New Zealand and managing more than 1 million traffic movements per year into and around New Zealand’s 30 million square kilometres of airspace.

Airways International Ltd (AIL) is the commercial arm of Airways New Zealand, providing training, digital products, aeronautical information management, procedure design and aviation consultancy services to customers in the Middle East, Asia, Hong Kong, the Pacific, Africa, Europe and North America.