Drone delivery firm Manna secures aviation certificate to allow for EU expansion

Manna Aero designs, builds and operates drones to deliver restaurant food, groceries and pharmacy goods in suburban areas. Picture: Reuters

Irish drone delivery firm Manna Aero has secured Ireland's first operator certificate from the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA).

The company has been trialling the delivery of food, medicines and groceries from a range of retailers in Oranmore, Co Galway in recent months.

The ‘light UAS operator certificate’ (LUC) is recognised in all EU member states and provides drone operators with significant business opportunities across the single market.

The Irish startup designs, builds and operates drones to deliver restaurant food, groceries and pharmacy goods in suburban areas. 

Manna’s drones can make a delivery in less than three minutes and the company says a single employee can manage multiple drones to make about 20 drop-offs an hour.

Last month, Manna has raised more than €20.6m to expand its drone fleet’s operations, including the addition of delivery services for prescription medical supplies and an initial expansion into the US. It said it will use the funds to scale its fleet and begin delivering prescription medical supplies.

The IAA certificate provides certain benefits for operators including permission to self-authorise operations, removing the requirement to obtain prior authorisation.

Aviation regulator, Diarmuid Ó Conghaile, congratulated Manna CEO Bobby Healy on their success to date. 

“The light UAS operator certificate is a very exciting development in EU regulatory terms and provides Irish companies like Manna Aero with access to a potential European market of over half a billion customers," he said.

"Drone services are an important part of the green technology mix in Europe and provide a competitive alternative to traditional service delivery. Our ambition for the new IAA is to facilitate UAS innovation and competitiveness with the highest safety and security standards, ultimately providing benefits to consumers at the end of the supply chain.”

Mr Healy said the achievement marks the culmination of our two-year engagement with the IAA and is a strong endorsement for the company, the nascent European Drone Delivery Industry and Ireland as a tech-epicentre for drone technology. 

"We thank EASA, and IAA for their vision and leadership, our delivery partners, and of course our wonderful trial customers in Oranmore and Moneygall for helping us to get this far”