Britain: Hundreds of drones to fly mail to remote islands

The Royal Mail wants to buy up to 200 drones over the next three years, which will transport mail on more than 50 routes around small islands off the British coast. In the long term, the fleet of mail drones should even grow to 500, it is said. However, the approval of the CAA (Civil Aviation Authority) is still required. The drones, which have been tested for a year and a half, are small unmanned aircraft. They can carry up to 100 kilograms of payload and in the most recent test on the Shetland Islands they showed that they could cover a route of around 80 kilometers back and forth twice a day.

Faster, more flexible and more ecological

The unmanned small aircraft from the manufacturer Windracers with a wingspan of 10 meters and a “highly reliable autopilot” will first fly to the remote Shetland and Orkney Islands and the Hebrides north and northwest of the island of Great Britain. Are therefore planned also flights to the Isles of Scilly south west of Great Britain. In the long term, it is planned that “a fleet of more than 500 drones will cover all corners of the United Kingdom”. Four tests have already been carried out, with the last one flying such a drone back and forth between Lerwick on the main island of Shetland and Unst. Unst is the most northerly inhabited British island, with around 630 people living there.

The drones have the advantage that they can also fly in adverse weather conditions, unlike a pilot in an airplane, the sometimes dense fog is not a problem for the autonomous airplanes. In addition, unlike ships, this transport option is also independent of ebb and flow, explained the manager responsible for drones at Royal Mail BBC’s Chris Paxton. Because the unmanned aerial vehicles are also smaller than airplanes, they also emit about a third less greenhouse gases, he says. The aircraft are intended for the so-called “middle mile”: When their freight is unloaded, it is delivered as normal by postal workers. Discussions with the CAA about the necessary set of rules have now begun.

(mho)