August 11, 2025
Meet the Team: Kanyarat Nanthavisit, Regulatory & Safety Associate
Whilst the Regulations and Safety team operates “behind the scenes”, they are critically important to the safe and successful completion of our missions.
Here we speak to our Regs & Safety Associate Kanya to get the inside view – covering some of our latest regulatory “big wins”, to how drone regulations compare with conventional aviation.
So you’re a Regulations and Safety Associate – how does that fit into what we do here at Skyports?
Regulations probably isn’t the first thing that comes into people’s minds when they think about flying drones, but it’s critically important, and safety is of course our number one priority when conducting our missions.
When planning a project we’ll need to make sure that we have the full permissions to fly from the local aviation authorities – think of it like getting the right driving licence, although one that’s specific to the road you’re driving on, the vehicle you’re using, and the purpose of your journey.
My job is basically to liaise with the regulators, outline what we’d like to do, get their requirements, and then gather all of the information and evidence so they can asses our needs and give us the go-ahead – so we can safely fly the missions to the best of our abilities within the permitted regulatory frameworks.
Talk me through your typical day/week working in Regs & Safety
Whilst the Regs and Safety team are operating “behind the scenes”, we’re integral to all the projects that we conduct.
If we’re working on a proposal for a new project, we’ll work closely with our business development team, seeing if we can operate the new project under existing regulations, and if not scoping what will be viable and what regulatory requirements we might need to work through to make the project happen.
If we need specific regulatory approvals, we’ll then be pulling all the right documentation together, and liaising with the regulators so they have everything they need to grant us the right permissions.
Once a project is secured, we then work hand in hand with our TechOps and FlightsOps teams, making sure that the project is carried out within the agreed regulatory parameters.
During the course of projects, we’ll also be continually carrying out audits, and keeping track of any occurrences and making sure they are reported and dealt with in the right way.
What’s been your favourite/most memorable project at Skyports?
I’ve travelled out to Singapore a couple of times whilst I’ve been at Skyports, and on my previous trip I was able to head out with the team whilst they were undertaking an emergency maritime surveillance project with the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore.
It was fascinating to see how our pilots launched the drones from moving vessels, and some of the challenges that came with that, with the pilot having to be constantly communicating with the vessel master whilst the drone was in flight.
I’ve also helped with another recent project in Singapore involving flying bunker samples to and from bunker vessels. There were various regulatory challenges that came with operating around fuelling vessels, but it’s been really satisfying seeing the trials successfully completed and our regulatory work paying off.
How does working in regulations for drones compare to regulations for more conventional aviation?
If you look at conventional aviation, the regulatory frameworks that they operate within are extremely well established. Whilst the regulations are technically still developing, in relative terms these developments are very minor, which means there’s a clear process to follow.
When dealing with regulations for drones, given how new they are there are a lot of grey areas and unknowns. The technology and the aircrafts’ capabilities are constantly evolving, so there’s usually an element of education with the regulators. We’re ultimately reassuring them that the drones are safe to fly, and the risks are low.
It can be a test of patience, but we’re increasingly seeing the regulators responding faster and more positively to our applications, which is great news for scaling our work and the industry as a whole.
What have been some of the recent “big wins” from the Regs & Safety team?
There has been some great progress made by our team, achieving some regulatory firsts that really push the scope of our capabilities and talk to the pace of acceleration in the industry.
We’ve just started a medical drone delivery project in Belgium, with the critical development that we have approval to pilot the drones from our Remote Operations Centre in the UK – meaning our pilots can concurrently work on multiple projects internationally in a single day, improving efficiency and reducing costs for our customers.
We’ve also just secured “Atypical airspace” approval for our facility at Westcott, meaning we can fly BVLOS without the need to segregate the airspace. This is our first ever Atypical approval in the UK, and sets up the framework we will use for other Atypical applications such as “drone-in-a-box” BVLOS surveillance and power line inspection contracts. We see Atypical airspace approvals as a strong way to scale commercial BVLOS operations across a number of high priority industries for us.
What was your personal career journey that led you to working here at Skyports?
I grew up in Thailand, having studied my bachelor’s degree in civil engineering (I still have an active licence there).
I was an engineer in Thailand for a few years, and then decided that I really wanted to pivot into aviation. A little bit unconventional, but my first real job in aviation was as a cabin crew for a domestic Thai airline called Nok Air, which gave me really good exposure to how the aviation industry worked.
After a couple of years, I saw a job opening with the Civil Aviation of Thailand for an Aerodrome Officer – they were after someone with both civil engineering and aviation experience, which fitted me perfectly. As an Aerodrome Officer I was basically overseeing regulatory filings – so the other side of what I’m doing now.
After 4 years I decided to really specialise, and moved to the UK to study a Masters degree at Cranfield University in Airport Planning and Management.
Whilst at Cranfield, Skyports was mentioned a lot, so I always kept an eye on the job openings. My current role, as a regulations and safety associate came up, and I thought, why not! I didn’t know much about drones at the time, but knew that my previous experience would be very relevant, having previously sat on the other side of the table as a regulator. And here I am.
What we’re doing at Skyports is on the leading edge of aviation and technology. How do you find working in this space?
Working in such a new field of aviation certainly has its challenges, as there is a degree of unfamiliarity with it for different regulators. On our part there’s a fair amount of work in reassuring and proving that the drones and technology are safe, and that they have a huge potential in providing a safer, faster and more sustainable alternative for complex logistical challenges.
That said, when we do get the approvals, successfully fly the mission, and prove that what we’re doing is safe and works, it’s immensely satisfying seeing the result (and the excitement that it inspires in people)!
How have you found Skyports as a place to build a career?
Being Thai, what really struck me with Skyports was the company’s willingness to embrace potential talent from different backgrounds, and to foremost focus on each person’s capabilities and ability to get the job done. It doesn’t matter where you come or what your background is, just that you have the capabilities and are willing to learn.
I’ve learnt and achieved so much in the last year, and I’m really proud of the work that Skyports and myself have done together.
