The Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) has reportedly said that drone delivery firm Manna Aero might not be granted permission to launch a full food drone delivery service in Dublin.
It was reported in late 2019 that Manna Aero had closed a seed funding round of $5.2 million (€4.7 million) and planned to launch food delivery by drone services in Ireland with online food delivery platform Flipdish. The company will commence food deliveries for Just Eat and Camile Thai in UCD this month.
However, The Irish Independent reports that IAA sources have stated that the UCD launch is considered to be part of a "risk assessment process" that is required under regulatory rules, and the sources expressed caution about the regulatory viability of a full commercial launch under current conditions.
Manna Aero Response
The Irish Independent quotes a spokesperson for Manna Aero as saying in response, "From a regulatory perspective, Manna has permission to fly its drones in Ireland, based on a specific operating permission granted by the IAA for activities in compliance with our flight operations manual
"For our UCD trials, we conducted a specific operating risk assessment (Sora) in compliance with the internationally renowned JARUS document, which is recognised by the IAA. This Sora systematically addressed the risks associated with these specific trial flights at this location and specified the control measures required."
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