AirData Tops 65 Million Drone Flights as U.S. Industry Prepares for FAA BVLOS Rule

AirData has surpassed 65 million recorded drone flights across more than 850,000 drones and 470,000 pilots worldwide. The milestone comes as the U.S. commercial drone industry prepares for the FAA BVLOS drone rule, Part 108, which AirData said is undergoing review by the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs ahead of publication.

According to AirData, the company has added 15 million flights since reaching 50 million in May 2025, averaging approximately one million additional flights per month during the following 15 months.

AirData Surpasses 65 Million Drone Flights

AirData said its growing flight dataset reflects both the expansion of existing commercial drone programs and organizations increasingly operating drones as routine infrastructure rather than individual pilot projects.

The company’s operational dataset includes:

• More than 65 million flights
• More than 850,000 drones
• More than 470,000 pilots
• More than 180 drone types
• 60 flight applications
• More than 880 recognized pilot certificate types

AirData also analyzes individual battery cells following each flight to track battery performance across commercial drone fleets.

“Sixty five million flights is not a vanity number for us. It is why we can tell an operator that one battery is aging differently from the other nineteen packs of the same model on the same duty cycle. No single fleet is large enough to produce that comparison on its own,” said Eran Steiner, Founder and CEO of AirData.

FAA BVLOS Drone Rule Moves Toward Publication

According to AirData, the FAA’s final Part 108 rule for routine Beyond Visual Line of Sight operations has been under review by the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs since July 10.

AirData said the rule would move accountability for a flight from the individual remote pilot to the operating organization.

According to the company, organizational responsibilities under the rule include demonstrating that:

• Personnel are qualified
• Aircraft are airworthy
• Operations follow approved procedures
• Flight data is collected and maintained
• Personnel qualification and training records are maintained
• The person overseeing a flight is current on the aircraft being operated

AirData identified flights, personnel, maintenance and incidents as categories addressed by the rule and said its platform has captured these types of operational information for a decade.

PG&E Uses AirData for BVLOS Operations

Pacific Gas and Electric operates drones across a 70,000-square-mile service area in California under a BVLOS waiver.

According to AirData, PG&E uses its platform to automate flight, personnel and maintenance documentation required under the waiver.

AirData described the program as an example of the organization-level documentation that Part 108 would apply more broadly.

“Implementing AirData has centralized our flight logging, compliance reporting, and maintenance tracking in an automated and proactive manner,” said Kellen Kirk, Manager of UAS and Fixed Wing Operations at Pacific Gas and Electric.

“This allows our pilots, technicians, and administrators to focus on their respective missions with confidence that regulations are being followed.”

AirData Prepares Commercial Operators for Part 108

AirData is a member of the Commercial Drone Alliance and has published a business readiness guide titled The AirData Blueprint: Operational readiness for the Part 108 era.

The company’s platform supports commercial and enterprise drone programs with capabilities including:

• Fleet readiness
• Maintenance tracking
• Certification tracking
• Compliance reporting
• Support across multiple drone types and flight applications
• Live video streaming for enterprise programs

According to AirData, the platform supports compliance activities involving the FAA, CASA, Transport Canada, CAA and other government agencies.

Commercial Drone Operations Continue to Scale

AirData said some of its recent flight growth comes from existing programs increasing in size, while other growth comes from organizations moving drones into routine operational use.

The company’s 65 million-flight milestone comes as these programs expand and the U.S. industry prepares for the FAA BVLOS drone rule and its organization-level requirements for routine beyond-line-of-sight operations.

Source: Press release from AirData