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The civil aviation ministry has allowed travellers to carry small to medium-sized drones for personal trips to domestic destinations without major restrictions for their carriage. They can be carried either in hand or checked-in luggage depending on the size. Major airlines allow drones in check-in baggage.
“If drones are asked to be mandatorily checked-in, it is because of individual airline policy and not a regulatory requirement,” said a ministry official, who did not want to be named. “When drones are accepted as check-in baggage, the batteries need to be removed and carried in carry-on baggage only.”
There will be no restrictions for spare batteries if their watt-hour (WH) is less than 100. The ministry has allowed a maximum of two batteries if the WH is over 100 but less than 160 WH with the approval of the airlines. “No spare batteries are allowed if WH is more than 160,” said the official.
There are five categories of drones based on their weight. Nano drones weigh up to 250 grams, micro drones between 250 grams and 2 kg, small drones between 2 and 25 kg, medium drones between 25 and 150 kg, and large drones over 150 kg.
“Nano drones can be carried in hand baggage with batteries in the passenger cabin or checked-in baggage (without batteries). Ideally, it is advisable to carry Nano drones in hand-carry baggage and not in checked-in baggage, as these drones have Lithium batteries and hence the potential risk of fire…,” the official said. He said security personnel at airports will detect lithium with online screening and offload nano drones.
Officials cited a risk assessment and said it was concluded that drones with batteries over 160 WH must be shipped as cargo. “However still the risk is that in passenger baggage, due to handling and movement, lithium can catch fire. Due to this, most airlines allow the same to travel in-cabin baggage since all crew is trained to handle any incident of fire or smoke in the cabin due to lithium,” the official said.
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The government has hence clarified that drones smaller in size with batteries must be carried as cabin bags. It added for large drones, small batteries of lithium must be removed. Larger drones with batteries (160 WH) will have to be carried in cargo compartments with proper smoke detection and fire suppression. Passengers have been mandated to take prior approval from the airlines before carrying drones.
Drone Federation of India director Smit Shah welcomed the move. “Drones have already started becoming a common technology for Indians and with this allowance of air carriage, it will further…help the drone industry grow. Also, this clarification was required for quite some time now as many drone companies faced issues while transporting their equipment which was taking days because they had to be transported via roadways. With these specifications by MoCA (the ministry of civil aviation), there will now be a set way to transport drones.”
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