WHILE questions have been raised as to whether the tech bubble has peaked, the situation is quite different in the world of air cargo in which technological advancements have centered on digitisation and drones.
One company that is sure that the drone market will not turn into another technology bubble is Bulgarian start-up Dronamics, which was founded by brothers Svilen and Konstantin Rangelov.
Svilen Rangelov agrees that there has been a certain amount of hype around the drone market over recent years and believes that the drone market is now past the inflated expectation phase and a more realistic view on how the aircraft can be utilised in supply chains is setting in.
'You had a lot of companies that came up with drone products and now they have all switched to services because hardware is hard and you need scale, especially consumer hardware.'
The 'Black Swan' drone being produced by Dronamics is fixed-wing, rather than the vertical take-off type that e-commerce and express delivery companies like Amazon and DHL have pioneered.
Over the past year the company has been working on building a 4-metre wingspan scale model that was exhibited at the Farnborough Airshow in the UK, reports London's Air Cargo News.
The scale model allowed the company to validate the design's aerodynamics, performance, controls and communication and has been tested over the last seven months in Bulgaria at various unused airfields away from traffic and populated areas.
The company has now started work on the full-scale model that will have a 16-metre wingspan, capacity to carry 350kgs and will be able to fly a distance of 2,500km. It's also developing its own traffic management system so that it can centrally monitor aircraft.
At the moment there are various ideas about how drones can fit into supply chains, ranging from final mile delivery to full scale aircraft that could replace existing freighters on long-haul flights.
However, these are not the markets being targeted by Dronamics. Mr Rangelov says the Black Swan will offer similar capacity to a Sprinter van and become a viable option on journeys where a van would need to travel for at least seven hours. Over longer distances, the economics of the drone stack up even more favourably.
Dronamics' website talks of how the Black Swan will 'democratise airfreight' and lower the cost of shipping in emerging markets, 'transforming whole economies'.
Target markets include Latin American, Asian and African countries where Dronamics envisages fleets of the Black Swan, taking advantage of the multitude of small airfields that are often unused, and training local personnel as drone and logistics operators.
The company hopes to partner with local industry to provide a way of getting goods in and out of small, remote, mountainous and/or island communities within hours at a cost that is often below road transportation.
Mr Rangelov says the aircraft is mostly designed with e-commerce in mind because it can carry a large volume of low-density cargo, around 400-800 parcels, depending on what has been ordered.
Droneports would also need some storage space and a maintenance shed, but it is expected the level of investment required should be as little as four or five digits as they will not be on prime real estate.
'There are still some unknowns which don't depend on us,' he says. 'For example, what will the landing fees for such a thing be, what would be the fee we pay to the Civil Aviation Authority?
'We have spoken to regulators from around the world - Asia, Africa, Europe, America - and we see, depending on the country, that the regulators' main concern with unmanned technologies is the proliferation of consumer drones and consumers who are not trained. That has been the headache for them.
To help influence the regulatory debate, at the start of the year the company became an IATA strategic partner and will take part in a working group that is in the process of being formed.
'We know that regulations will need all the stakeholders to come to the table so that's why we have taken on a collaborative approach,' explains Mr Rangelov.
One company that is sure that the drone market will not turn into another technology bubble is Bulgarian start-up Dronamics, which was founded by brothers Svilen and Konstantin Rangelov.
Svilen Rangelov agrees that there has been a certain amount of hype around the drone market over recent years and believes that the drone market is now past the inflated expectation phase and a more realistic view on how the aircraft can be utilised in supply chains is setting in.
'You had a lot of companies that came up with drone products and now they have all switched to services because hardware is hard and you need scale, especially consumer hardware.'
The 'Black Swan' drone being produced by Dronamics is fixed-wing, rather than the vertical take-off type that e-commerce and express delivery companies like Amazon and DHL have pioneered.
Over the past year the company has been working on building a 4-metre wingspan scale model that was exhibited at the Farnborough Airshow in the UK, reports London's Air Cargo News.
The scale model allowed the company to validate the design's aerodynamics, performance, controls and communication and has been tested over the last seven months in Bulgaria at various unused airfields away from traffic and populated areas.
The company has now started work on the full-scale model that will have a 16-metre wingspan, capacity to carry 350kgs and will be able to fly a distance of 2,500km. It's also developing its own traffic management system so that it can centrally monitor aircraft.
At the moment there are various ideas about how drones can fit into supply chains, ranging from final mile delivery to full scale aircraft that could replace existing freighters on long-haul flights.
However, these are not the markets being targeted by Dronamics. Mr Rangelov says the Black Swan will offer similar capacity to a Sprinter van and become a viable option on journeys where a van would need to travel for at least seven hours. Over longer distances, the economics of the drone stack up even more favourably.
Dronamics' website talks of how the Black Swan will 'democratise airfreight' and lower the cost of shipping in emerging markets, 'transforming whole economies'.
Target markets include Latin American, Asian and African countries where Dronamics envisages fleets of the Black Swan, taking advantage of the multitude of small airfields that are often unused, and training local personnel as drone and logistics operators.
The company hopes to partner with local industry to provide a way of getting goods in and out of small, remote, mountainous and/or island communities within hours at a cost that is often below road transportation.
Mr Rangelov says the aircraft is mostly designed with e-commerce in mind because it can carry a large volume of low-density cargo, around 400-800 parcels, depending on what has been ordered.
Droneports would also need some storage space and a maintenance shed, but it is expected the level of investment required should be as little as four or five digits as they will not be on prime real estate.
'There are still some unknowns which don't depend on us,' he says. 'For example, what will the landing fees for such a thing be, what would be the fee we pay to the Civil Aviation Authority?
'We have spoken to regulators from around the world - Asia, Africa, Europe, America - and we see, depending on the country, that the regulators' main concern with unmanned technologies is the proliferation of consumer drones and consumers who are not trained. That has been the headache for them.
To help influence the regulatory debate, at the start of the year the company became an IATA strategic partner and will take part in a working group that is in the process of being formed.
'We know that regulations will need all the stakeholders to come to the table so that's why we have taken on a collaborative approach,' explains Mr Rangelov.