Insights from Larissa Haas, Swiss Federal Office of Civil Aviation (FOCA)
As drone operations move from pilot projects to large-scale deployment, one factor is becoming increasingly decisive: U-space. By providing digital airspace infrastructure for drones, U-space can reduce operational complexity, support safe Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) flights, and help companies scale faster.
While many countries remain cautious, Switzerland is moving decisively from vision to implementation. With Zurich as its first U-space airspace, the country is positioning itself as a leading testbed for advanced drone operations. In a recent interview, Larissa Haas, UAS Policy Coordinator for the Technology and Innovation Unit at the Swiss Federal Office of Civil Aviation (FOCA), explained what Switzerland has already achieved, what is planned for 2026, and why the country is emerging as one of the most attractive locations worldwide for drone and advanced aviation companies.
How did Switzerland build the foundations for U-space implementation?
Switzerland’s U-space journey began well before European regulation fully took shape. FOCA started actively working on U-space implementation, even in the absence of regulations, with the aim of gaining early experience on how the system and associated technologies functions in practice.
Larissa, in her role as UAS Policy Coordinator and member of the U-space implementation team, has been closely involved in this work from the start.
“We began implementing U-space in Switzerland even before the regulatory framework and all relevant industry standards were fully in place. This early engagement allowed us to actively shape subsequent regulatory and standardisation processes.”
Without harmonised standards or established best practices, implementation required close coordination and experimentation. As European regulation and standardisation matured, however, Switzerland was well positioned to accelerate.
A defining feature of Switzerland’s approach has been stakeholder coordination. In 2025, FOCA focused on synchronising all actors involved in U-space, such as U-space Service Providers (USSPs), drone operators, the Swiss Air Navigation Service Provider (ANSP) skyguide, and local authorities.
To do so, FOCA created dedicated working groups, or “pillars”, tasked with identifying regulatory gaps, addressing them collaboratively, and aligning interpretations. Work previously carried out in the US provided an important baseline, which was subsequently adapted to the European regulatory context.
“What we tried to do was get together and align all the stakeholders, identify the gaps, and fill them collaboratively by coming up with the necessary documents, such as Concept of Operations and service description documents.”
This structured, collaborative approach is still rare in Europe, making these initiatives by FOCA and other stakeholders not only innovative but also groundbreaking.
What did Switzerland achieve in U-space by the end of 2025?
By the end of 2025, Switzerland had moved beyond planning and coordination into practical validation. With a shared baseline of documentation and standards in place, FOCA was able to launch a first real-world test of U-space services in the future U-space airspace volume in Zurich.
The test brought together multiple USSPs and drone operators in the future U-space airspace volume. While initial interoperability challenges emerged during the tests, they were resolved rapidly in subsequent testing.
“At the beginning, USSPs had difficulties with communicating with each other, and then within a few hours we were able to fix these problems. The learning curve was really amazing.”
For FOCA, the most important outcome was not technical perfection, but learning and familiarisation. Operators were able to experience U-space in practice, not just on paper, and give honest feedback on the advantages and disadvantages of the system.
“We were able to bring the concept to practice and enable drone operators in Zurich to use this future system, familiarise themselves with it, and give us feedback.”
This shift from theory to hands-on experience marked a critical milestone in Switzerland’s U-space journey.
What are Switzerland’s concrete U-space milestones for 2026?
Switzerland’s objective for 2026 is clear: the formal designation of U-space airspace in Zurich.
“Our big goal is to finally designate U-space airspace in Zurich.”
In recent years, FOCA has postponed the deadline for implementing the first U-space airspace due to the high complexity and novelty of the processes, actors, and systems involved. Many of these processes had to first be established, which has been a significant undertaking.
Several concrete milestones will lead up to the U-space implementation. The most important is a second U-space field test planned for Q2 2026, which will build directly on the feedback and lessons learned in 2025.
“This second test will also focus on the communication between USSPs and ANSPs, which is very innovative, since we haven’t set up such links before.”
At the same time, Switzerland is progressing on USSP certification.
“We are in the course of certifying two U-space Service Providers here in Switzerland.”
FOCA is also actively contributing to European regulatory drone simplification, with updates expected in 2026.
“We are heavily engaged with EASA and the EU Commission to shape the regulatory framework according to Swiss interests and Swiss companies. With Switzerland’s innovative research and development ecosystem, our goal is to create innovation-friendly rules for these companies and enable market access for Swiss stakeholders in Europe.”
Crucially, Switzerland is feeding its U-space learnings back into Europe. FOCA will summarise the field-test findings in a dedicated report and make it available to all stakeholders in the U-space ecosystem, so that others can benefit from the lessons learned. Their goal is to maintain an ongoing dialogue with European institutions to improve the existing regulatory framework so that it remains future-proof and user-friendly.
“We are trying to manifest the insights we gained during our U-space implementation in the regulatory framework, to make it simpler and easier to apply.”
Together, these steps signal a transition from experimentation to operational readiness.
When will U-space enable scalable drone operations in Switzerland and beyond?
While Zurich’s U-space airspace represents a major step forward, scalability remains a key challenge.
“What I observe currently in Europe is that most Member States are reluctant with the implementation of U-space, largely due to the scope, novelty, and complexity of the regulatory framework. There is this general attitude of ‘wait and see’, which is unfortunate from a scalability perspective.”
The planned U-space volume in Zurich will cover approximately 10 kilometres north to south and 17 kilometres west to east; large enough to enable meaningful operations, but clearly not sufficient on its own to unlock full market scale in Europe.
“There is room for a market and for competition, which is why we insist so much on interoperability between U-space Service Providers and European-wide harmonisation of U-space rules.”
However, to really scale and make good business out of the investments, there is a need for more than just one U-space in the city of Zurich.
As a result, FOCA is already evaluating additional U-space airspace volumes across Switzerland, also in uncontrolled airspace, while simultaneously engaging with European institutions to encourage wider adoption.
“We cannot afford to wait until 2027 or beyond with the European-wide implementation of U-space. We need to do it now and send a clear signal to investors and companies: It is possible to fly in Europe.”
This expansion is essential not only for operators, but for regulators as well.
“From an authority perspective, we are able to approve more complex operations in much less time frame and with better allocation of resources.”
Switzerland’s approach aims to demonstrate that U-space is not only a safety enabler, but also an efficiency multiplier.
Why does U-space make Switzerland particularly attractive for drone and innovative aviation companies?
For companies aiming to scale BVLOS operations, U-space directly addresses one of the most challenging elements of drone regulation air risk assessment under SORA.
“To start early with the implementation of U-space was clearly a strategic decision. We see U-space as the most straightforward way to mitigate the air risk in a reasonable amount of time, because, in contrast to the other solutions that are currently being discussed, the regulatory framework is already into force.”
“With U-space infrastructure in place, we basically have the whole complexity of the air risk tackled,” which has a measurable impact on time and cost. “Our engineers estimate that the time required to do a SORA will be reduced by approximately 30 % at the beginning.”
For companies aiming to operate BVLOS at scale, this is a decisive advantage.
“Many companies cannot scale their BVLOS operations because they struggle with the air risk. With U-space, this very challenging part is addressed by a digital infrastructure.”
Beyond U-space itself, Larissa highlights Switzerland’s broader strengths: a compact R&D landscape, close ties between industry and academia, and an unusually open regulatory culture.
“We have a very dense university and research and development network here in Switzerland. Everybody is very well connected.”
Referring to FOCA specifically, Larissa added: “We are a small authority and strive to have a direct, transparent, and open dialogue with our stakeholders.”
Larissa also recommends industry associations as a key entry point.
“With an association, you have a direct communication channel with authorities and other companies. The entry barriers are comparatively low, and it’s a very good way to exchange experience and know-how.”
This collaborative culture was critical during U-space testing, and it remains a defining feature of the Swiss ecosystem.
Why is Switzerland sending a clear signal to the drone industry?
With early implementation, concrete milestones, real-world testing, and a collaborative regulatory culture, Switzerland is positioning itself as a European reference point for U-space and scalable drone operations.
As U-space moves from ambition to operational reality, Zurich is becoming a proof point and Switzerland a destination for companies looking to build, test, and scale the next generation of aviation services.
