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At the beginning of this month, the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) Acting Deputy Administrator, Carl Burleson, announced that Low Altitude Authorization and Notification Capability (LAANC) would be made available to an additional 109 contract towers. The government agency has acted quickly since the news broke at AUVSI Exponential’s keynote presentation.
The FAA has expanded LAANC to increase access for commercial drone pilots in controlled airspace. Still in beta, LAANC was introduced to the public in November, 2017. Applications such as Kittyhawk, AirMap, and Skyward give qualifying remote pilots approval in real-time to access controlled airspace. Without LAANC, the process of getting approval via a waiver could take up to 90 days.
Approximately 600 airports are now covered by the LAANC capability. The FAA also mentions that the list of facilities taking part in LAANC will change. Some airports will drop it altogether. The full list airports added today can be viewed here.
Some major Class B, C, and D airports were added today including the following:
- Austin-Bergstrom International (AUS)
- Hartfield-Jackson Atlanta International (ATL)
- Nashville International (BNA)
- Bob Hope (BUR)
- Denver International (DEN)
- Dallas-Fort Worth International (DFW)
- Detroit Metro Wayne Co (DTW)
- Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood International (FLL)
- John F. Kennedy International (JFK)
- McCarran International (LAS)
- Los Angeles International (LAX)
- Orlando International (MCO)
- Chicago Midway International (MDW)
- Memphis International (MEM)
- Miami International (MIA)
- Minneapolis-St. Paul International/Wold-Chamberlin (MSP)
- Louis Armstrong New Orleans International (MSY)
- Metro Oakland International (OAK)
- Ontario International (ONT)
- Chicago O’Hare International (ORD)
- Portland International (PDX)
- Philadelphia International (PHL)
- Phoenix Sky Harbor International (PHX)
- San Diego International (SAN)
- Seattle Tacoma International (SEA)
- San Francisco International (SFO)
- Salt Lake City International (SLC)
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