FAA Part 108

FAA Part 108 is the US Federal Aviation Administration's proposed regulatory framework for beyond-visual-line-of-sight (BVLOS) drone operations, covering unmanned aircraft weighing up to 1,320 pounds. It would create standardised operating permits and type certificates replacing the current waiver-by-waiver system under Part 107, under which each BVLOS operator must seek individual FAA approval for each flight corridor. The rule is foundational for commercial drone scaling: without it, companies like Zipline, medical delivery operators, and infrastructure inspection services cannot expand routes at national pace.

As of 18 June 2026, the FAA has missed its spring 2026 final-rule Deadline with no revised publication date announced. The specific blocker is a contested right-of-way provision: under the proposed rule, crewed aircraft not broadcasting electronic position must yield to a BVLOS drone, reversing traditional right-of-way hierarchy. That single provision drew more than 50% of the 3,100+ public comments received, and remains unresolved. The rule had already slipped from its original March, April 2026 executive-order target after the FAA reopened the comment period in January 2026, adding months to the timeline and closing on 11 February.

Every week of delay extends the waiver bottleneck. Operators with pending route applications face growing backlogs; investors in commercial drone businesses face regulatory uncertainty that suppresses capital deployment. The rule's eventual publication will be the single most consequential US regulatory event for the commercial drone sector since the original Part 107 framework in 2016.