Wing, the drone delivery arm of Google parent Alphabet, and rival Flytrex are making history.
In Texas, the competitors have become collaborators. The partners on Wednesday revealed they are operating daily service in overlapping airspace near Dallas—the first such operations in the U.S.
As of April, more than 420,000 commercial drones have been registered with the FAA by uncrewed aircraft system (UAS) operators. Several of them deliver in the Dallas area, including industry titan Zipline. But their drones are not allowed to cross paths.
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“Rather than operating in siloed zones, Flytrex and Wing operate in close proximity to serve overlapping communities, while managing their flight paths to prevent conflicts,” a Flytrex spokesperson told FLYING.
Air Traffic Management vs. UTM
Conventional air traffic management relies on human controllers directing pilots through voice communications. But automated, uncrewed drones require a different system—one the FAA calls UAS Traffic Management (UTM).
Commercial drones face a major regulatory hurdle: They cannot fly beyond the visual line of sight (BVLOS) of the remote pilot without special waivers or exemptions. Either the pilot or a visual observer must directly monitor the aircraft, which limits the size—and profit potential—of an operation.
Instead of operators tracking each drone visually, UTM centralizes real-time data and planned flight routes from the FAA, operators, and service providers, sharing it with other airspace users digitally through application programming interfaces (APIs). It is designed for operations under 400 feet. The FAA will review Near-Term Approval Process (NTAP) submissions to determine which services are eligible for UTM.
As the agency works toward a comprehensive rule for BVLOS operations, UTM will be essential for deconflicting aircraft that remote pilots can’t see.
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Some of the earliest UTM research originated at NASA, which continues to evaluate the technology. The FAA became involved in 2016, when the FAA Extension, Safety, and Security Act created the UTM Pilot Program (UPP) to explore how the system could be implemented. That effort concluded in 2020 and was followed by the UTM Field Test in 2023, which collected flight test data to evaluate the standards proposed by UPP.
Another follow-on, the UTM Operational Evaluation, is putting the system through real-world paces. In July, the FAA authorized Wing and Zipline to put it to the test in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Since then, Flytrex and rivals DroneUp, Manna, Amazon Prime Air, and UPS Flight Forward have joined the effort, which has expanded to Utah, Texas, and New York, an agency spokesperson said in an interview this month.
Wing and Flytrex, though, are the first to prove the concept can function on a daily, operational scale.
Case Study: Dallas
Wing and Flytrex have each developed UTM systems designed to an ASTM specification that is intended to set the global standard. The partners believe their routine operations in Dallas could help those rules take shape.
“By leveraging the benefits of global standards, we will increasingly see multiple drone services sharing the same, overlapping airspace and operating at scale,” said Margaret Nagle, vice president and global head of policy, regulatory and community affairs at Wing, in a statement.
The companies deploy UTM to coordinate routes and exchange data while flying BVLOS, using it to adjust flight paths. All functions are automated, with no manual input required. That real-time coordination adds another layer of safety and could allow both companies to reach more customers.
“The framework Flytrex and Wing have implemented essentially serves as a fully autonomous version of air traffic control,” a Flytrex spokesperson said. “While it may still need refinement before being viable for general aviation, it’s a powerful proof of concept for what a modern, automated ATC system could look like.”
The nation’s ATC system has come under scrutiny following a fatal midair collision in January—the deadliest U.S. commercial aviation accident in decades—and recent equipment outages that have disrupted operations at New Jersey’s Newark Liberty International Airport (KEWR). U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy this month unveiled a sweeping plan to modernize the system, describing the current technology as “not worth saving.”
Small drones add another layer to the challenge of airspace management. But Wing and Flytrex’s success complements two critical drone regulations that are under interagency review at the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs. One, Part 108, would create industrywide standards for BVLOS. If the provision is approved, the success of UTM in Dallas could be repeated to prevent collisions nationwide.
“By proving out this concept in Dallas, Flytrex and Wing are setting the stage for the expansion of drone delivery services at scale, allowing multiple companies to serve the same neighborhoods simultaneously,” a Flytrex spokesperson said.
The technology could also support future advanced air mobility (AAM) aircraft, such as electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) air taxis and remotely piloted cargo planes. Archer Aviation, for example, was recently picked as the official air taxi provider for the 2028 Summer Olympic Games in Los Angeles. The company’s Midnight eVTOL is piloted but capped at a cruising altitude of 2,000 feet—a height at which it could share airspace with drones.
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