The civil aviation ministry has permitted experimental drone flight operations, which would be beyond the visual line of sight (BVLOS), of SpiceJet, Dunzo Air Consortium, Skylark Drones, Swiggy and 17 other entities.
The 17 other entities include Virginia Tech India, ShopX Omnipresent Consortium, Asteria Aerospace Private Ltd, Centillion Networks Pvt Ltd, Marut Dronetech Pvt Ltd and Sagar Defence Engineering Pvt Ltd, the ministry said.
The ministry has granted a conditional exemption to these entities from the Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) Rules, 2021, for “conducting the BVLOS experimental flights”, it said on Twitter.
The exemption will be valid for a year or until further orders, it noted.
The BVLOS drones are flown beyond the visual range of the operator, helping them to cover greater distances.