Mr. Jim Gavin:

The approvals we give are analogous to those for manned aviation. We give a commercial operator such as airline an air operating certificate and that air carrier then goes to an airport to operate its aircraft. We obviously approve the airport but we do not give the specific approvals for the air carrier as such. Our role is to assess the air and ground risks from a safety perspective.

On noise, there are no specific regulations for drones, with the exception of drones that you buy, typically off the shelf, with a CE marking. These have a specific decibel level. In some ways, there is no specific level for other drones. However, member states may apply restrictions, such as decibel level restrictions, to particular volumes of airspace.

Mr. Walsh might mention the approval process for the LUC.