Altitude Angel, a proven provider of Unified Traffic Management (UTM) technology, has announced that Cambridge City Airport is the latest airport to its Approval Services platform, which enables drone operators to request and pay for operations in airport airspace digitally and at the touch of a button.

Located close to Cambridge’s historic centre and high-tech business parks, Cambridge City Airport is the gateway to one of the UK’s most famous and thriving cities. The airport is close to Greater London and is used by general aviation and intercontinental business jets.

And because the airport has an FRZ covering much of the famous university city, it has to cope with an increasing number of requests from both commercial and private drone operators who want to operate in the airspace managed by the airport. This is why Cambridge City Airport turned to Altitude Angel.

Approval Services allow drone operators to submit flight plans quickly and securely digitally – via the Drone Assist app or via dronesafetymap.com. These submissions can be made in whole or in part within an airport’s FRZ. In addition, all fees charged by the airport when approving a flight are handled.

The benefits of using Approval Services at Cambridge City Airport are reflected in the time taken to review flight requests and administration fees, both of which are dramatically reduced – from 21 days for flight reviews to five days and the reduction in administration fees from £75 and £50 respectively to just £35 for commercial users.

Commenting on the launch of Altitude Angel’s Approval Services platform, David Rowe, Manager of Airport Operations at Cambridge City Airport, said: “The Airport Operations team is delighted to be using the system, which will enable us to efficiently manage applications and gain an overview of UAV activity in our FRZ.”

Chris Forster, Chief Operating Officer of Altitude Angel, added: “As a busy commercial airport, but also responsible for the airspace over one of the UK’s most famous and picturesque cities, we are delighted to be able to enable more drone operations within the Cambridge FRZ and give all airspace users the opportunity to experience the skies safely and securely.”