Europe Drones Market - Growth, Trends, Covid-19 Impact, and Forecasts (2023 - 2028)

Europe Drones Market - Growth, Trends, Covid-19 Impact, and Forecasts (2023 - 2028)

The Europe drones market is projected to record a CAGR of more than 11% during the forecast period.

Though the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the recreational and entertainment sector and the related drone operations in 2020, other industrial sectors rebounded quickly in 2021, fueling the rebound in the drone demand. On the other hand, the advent of the pandemic has also helped the industry witness new use cases, especially from the law enforcement applications for monitoring the enforcement of COVID-19 measures.

With the advancements in drone technologies, drone manufacturers are now providing a wide range of drone models in various sizes, weights, and payload carrying capabilities to support the broad range of commercial applications.

The changes in drone regulations made by the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) are supporting the deployment of drones in various sectors, like infrastructure, agriculture, transport, entertainment, and security. However, factors like strict regulations for beyond the visual line of sight operations of drones, security and safety concerns, and lack of trained pilots, are anticipated to hamper the growth of the market during the forecast period.

The construction segment held the highest market share in 2021. Drones are changing the ways used for surveying land and fields traditionally. Drone surveying, also known as aerial surveying, is popular in the industry, as it provides a faster, safer, and cost-efficient way to survey at heights. Engineers prefer aerial surveys for bridge inspection, roof inspection, and large building construction. By eliminating manual at-height working, they reduce risk and enhance safety while working at high construction sites, as they enable construction engineers to make vital decisions. With the implementation of LiDAR or laser scanning sensor payloads, drones started providing detailed digital models of landscape, vegetation, buildings, and other assets. These factors are anticipated to propel the growth of the segment in the coming years. The use of drones for construction-related activities is increasing in the region. For instance, in April 2021, Bauer Umwelt, a division of Bauer Resources, deployed drones to measure the excavation and determine the masses of soil to be removed for new housing development in Munich, Germany. The company announced that the use of drones resulted in significant time and cost savings as the work was carried out faster and largely independently without having to rely on other resources, such as a human surveyor. Such deployments are expected to drive the use of drones for construction in the country in the years to come.

United Kingdom was the largest market for drones in Europe in 2021. Drones are playing a growing role in several areas, such as emergency services and construction. The United Kingdom government, in collaboration with the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), is supporting the use of drones to meet personal needs. The government has launched the UAV pathfinder program to enable private players to manufacture beyond the visual line of sight drones for various applications, such as agriculture, construction, and remote sensing. The United Kingdom CAA has announced the creation of UAS geozones, which will allow drone delivery service providers to execute BVLOS missions while ensuring the safety of all airspace stakeholders by mandating that aircraft requiring access to the geozone be equipped with a pre-defined means of Electronic Conspicuity (EC).

In April 2021, the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) approved the Beyond-visual-line-of-sight Flights (BVLOS) operations of drones. The local startup sees.ai is the first United Kingdom company to obtain the United Kingdom's Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) authorization for trailing a concept for a routine beyond-visual-line-of-sight (BVLOS) command and control solution. sees.ai is allowed to fly BVLOS at three sites without the need to pre-authorize each flight. United Kingdom’s oil and gas industry has been one of the largest commercial end users of drones. With the help of drones, cost management can be achieved, while human exposure to unsafe conditions can be reduced. British Petroleum (BP) is among the earliest adopters of drones in oil and gas applications in the region. United Kingdom’s successful drone startup companies to date have been those that develop drones for use in specific industries. Hummingbird Technologies, Aveillant, Cyberhawk, Sensat, BioCarbon Engineering, and Evolve Dynamics are some of the popular drone startups in the country that have attracted huge investments from various investors in recent years. With the growing demand for drones from the civilian and commercial sectors, the country is expected to become a lucrative market for UAVs during the forecast period.

The Europe drones market is highly fragmented, with several players accounting for significant shares in the market. Some of the prominent companies in the Europe drones market are Azure Drones SAS, Parrot Drones, Terra Drone, Onyx Scan Advanced LiDAR Systems, and AltiGator Unmanned Solutions. The companies are spending heavily on improving technology and introducing new features in drones to support various commercial applications. For instance, in June 2021, the European drone manufacturer Parrot launched its ANAFI Ai, the first drone to use 4G as the main data link between the drone and the operator, which uses ANAFI Ai’s 4G connectivity to enable precise control at any distance. For Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) flights, the drone stays connected even behind obstacles. The launch of such advanced drones for various applications is anticipated to help companies expand their presence in the region. Furthermore, with the ease in drone regulations, many companies are entering the drones industry of Europe, which is expected to further increase the competition among the players in the future.

• The market estimate (ME) sheet in Excel format
• 3 months of analyst support