BVLOS drone rules become the new race in commercial airspace
BVLOS drone operations are becoming a regulatory race, not a technology race.
The aircraft, communications links, navigation systems, traffic-management tools and detect-and-avoid technology needed for beyond-visual-line-of-sight operations have advanced sharply. The harder question is how aviation authorities turn those capabilities into repeatable commercial operations without treating every mission as a special case. The United States remains a major aviation market, but its general BVLOS framework is still in transition. Under Part 107, visual line of sight remains the baseline. BVLOS usually requires a waiver or another FAA authorization. The FAA’s Parts 108 and 146 proposal, published for public comment in August 2025, is designed to create a more systematic framework. It covers aircraft requirements, operational approvals, separation from other aircraft, safety duties and the role of data service providers that would support the system.
Several countries are already operating under more defined BVLOS pathways. Zipline’s African network shows the scale now possible when rules, aircraft and operations align. The company began commercial flights in Rwanda in October 2016 with service to two hospitals. It has since grown into a national autonomous logistics network, with Rwanda expanding the partnership to nationwide coverage, an urban delivery network and an autonomous-delivery test center. Zipline also operates in Ghana, Nigeria, Côte d’Ivoire and Kenya. By 2021, it reported service to more than 2,300 health facilities and delivery of more than five million vaccine doses. By January 2026, it had surpassed two million commercial deliveries and more than 125 million autonomous commercial miles. The company said its aircraft had transported more than 20 million individual items without a serious injury. All of those flights were conducted under BVLOS rules. The African operating environment differs from dense cities in the United States or Europe, but the record shows BVLOS can become national infrastructure when regulation allows routine operations.
Canada offers one of the clearest commercial models. Regulatory changes that took effect in November 2025 created a path for lower-risk BVLOS flights without the same individual approvals long associated with complex drone missions. The framework sets conditions for airspace, altitude, population density and operator competency, while keeping more complex operations subject to additional authorization. Australia is testing a similar problem through CASA’s broad-area BVLOS trial, launched in October 2025. It uses four pathways based on aircraft size, speed and population density, with AusSORA used to assess risk. The United Kingdom has set a roadmap aimed at routine BVLOS operations by 2027. It also is creating practical routes for infrastructure inspection, including power lines and wind turbines. Europe is taking a wider approach under EASA. BVLOS commonly falls in the Specific Category, where SORA links the flight profile to risk mitigations, operating limits, personnel standards, technical requirements and procedures. EASA is also pairing SORA with U-space, an architecture intended to manage denser uncrewed traffic rather than simply approve isolated flights.
Japan, Brazil and Colombia show how BVLOS is moving from exception to defined operating class. Japan’s Level 4 framework permits BVLOS over populated areas through a combination of aircraft certification, remote pilot certification and operational approval. Brazil’s RBAC 100, issued in June 2026, creates a new unmanned aircraft framework, explicitly defines BVLOS and replaces the older RBAC-E 94 structure with a more modern risk-based system. Speedbird Aero has said its earlier Brazilian approvals for BVLOS over populated areas are carrying into the new regulation, while it also flies in Portugal and Italy using SORA risk-assessment tools. Colombia has regulated BVLOS through RAC 100, issued on Sept. 27, 2023. Section 100.445 sets special conditions for BVLOS, and the Colombian model treats BVLOS as an integrated operator capability rather than a feature of the aircraft alone. The global lesson is clear. One-off approvals can prove a drone can fly safely beyond the pilot’s sight, but they do not create a scalable business. Commercial scale requires predictable operating conditions, standardized equipment requirements, repeatable risk assessments, manageable insurance and training costs, and approval processes that do not expand with every mission. If U.S. Parts 108 and 146 deliver clear risk classes and predictable pathways for low- and medium-risk operations, the United States could close the gap quickly. If the system remains dependent on individualized approvals, the regulatory gap could become an economic disadvantage as operators in Canada, Australia, Brazil, the UK, Colombia and Japan gain commercial BVLOS experience at scale.