Drones boosting UK economy

Drones are helping UK business make profits soar, with an estimated half a million using them for commercial purposes, helping businesses create new services and products for their customers. 

A study of 3,045 UK adults by DronesDirect.co.uk, one of the UK’s leading drones e-tailers, published in the The UK Drone Usage Report 2016, reveals that 586,430 Britons have used drones for commercial purposes. 

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are being put to work in an increasing number of commercial situations, such as filming, surveying landscapes, and product delivery. 

• The media industry (63%) is leading the uptake of their use – most commonly using them for taking aerial photography or videography. 
• Facilities management firms (39%) ranked in second place for commercial drone usage, with Mitie having recently unveiled plans to use drones for accessing problems such as pest control in high rise buildings. 
• Oil and utilities companies (34%) are also driving drone uptake. Firms such as BP and Shell currently use UAVs to inspect off-shore oil rigs and pipelines. 
• The agricultural industry (18%) has also been quick to incorporate the remote flying technology into their processes, including assessing crop growth, and distributing pesticides and fertilisers. 
• The construction industry (17%) ranked in fifth place, and are using drones to access the progress of projects. 
• The UK fire and police services have also been incorporating drone technology into rescue operations. UAVs can provide alternative angles from which to access and observe crime scenes and can be used to access the safety of hazardous sites.
• Surveillance (32%) is amongst the most common commercial uses of drones, following photography. More than one in five (21%) is using a drone for security purposes in the workplace. 

Delivery is anticipated to be the largest area of growth for commercial drone usage ahead of the launch of Amazon’s Prime Air parcel delivery service, and plans by Royal Mail and DHL to do similar. 

The UK is a popular base for developing and testing commercial applications of UAVs. The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has also recently relaxed several of the current regulations surrounding UK drone usage for commercial trials, in response to requests from Amazon to trial its Prime Air delivery service, including the operation of vehicles without direct line of sight and the uses of anti-collision technology.

Tim Morley, category manager at DronesDirect.co.uk, said: “It’s great to see businesses incorporating drones into their day-to-day practices to not only make processes simpler and more efficient, but also offer new services. 

“The recent change in CAA regulations shows they are open to working with businesses to identify how best these exciting technologies can be applied, encouraging drone usage within a commercial environment, to bring an array of new benefits to consumers and businesses. We anticipate even more businesses using drones following the recent change in rules from the CAA. 

“Drones are already being used around the world for deliveries of consumer products, providing humanitarian aid, and security – with support from the CAA, Britain can be at the forefront of the development for business and industry. continued aerial technology development.”