December 17, 2025
Come on in: Skyports’ new flagship Drone Operations Hub
Lewis Dickinson, Head of Flight Operations
Skyports Drone Services has grown a lot. And with an ever expanding team and our world class drone capabilities constantly growing, we were finding our foundational drone hangar in Westcott Venture Park a little cramped. It was time for an upgrade.
After a year-long build and fit out, we’re still in Westcott but in a significantly upgraded and purpose built facility. It now acts as our new global Drone Operations Hub, providing a centralised base for our drone operations, engineering and piloting.
Join me for a quick virtual tour of our new facility, which now provides us with the state-of-the-art facilities we need to drive our global operations to the next level.
The building
Our new hub doesn’t disappoint – it’s pretty amazing. We and our pilots are proud to call it our new home. The whole facility has literally been built from the ground up to provide us with the best possible base for our global operations.
It’s double the size of our previous facility, with an overall footprint of 5,145 sq ft, giving us plenty of space to continue to grow.
Downstairs: the shop floor and hangar space
As we’ve grown, so has our fleet of drones, and with this increased maintenance and engineering demands.
We’ve equipped the new hangar with everything we need to keep the fleet running. There’s space for today’s aircraft, with plenty of room for more, and a proper shop floor with multiple workbenches and organised storage for spares and tools.
We also have 3D printers on site that let us produce small components, like GPS mounts, on demand. It means faster fixes, fewer delays and more control over our hardware.
Upstairs: our Remote Operations Centre
The real meaningful upgrade of the new hub is our “gold standard” Remote Operations Centre – where our pilots fly our drone missions.
From this new ROC we’re able to fly Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) drone missions, at scale, both across the UK and Europe. In a morning, a pilot could hop between delivering mail for Royal Mail in the Orkney Islands, conducting medical deliveries in Belgium, and then conducting port surveillance in Portsmouth. This is a critical element to the expansion of our services and capabilities, and ultimately the value we can provide for our customers.
The new ROC has four pilot stations, allowing us to conduct multiple BVLOS missions simultaneously. But these aren’t just fancy desktop PCs with huge screens. They also feature:
- Rock solid connectivity – each station runs dual ground control stations connected through independent internet paths using Starlink and LTE, providing uninterrupted control even if one connection drops
- Power redundancy – providing 20-30 minutes of backup power, allowing our pilots to stabilise and land the aircraft safely in the event of a power outage
- Powerful and secure computing – configured to meet ISO standards and effortlessly handle multiple cloud-based control systems, video feeds and mission planning tools simultaneously
- Enhanced interfaces for situational awareness – banks of ultra-wide displays mean our pilots can monitor and manage multiple missions at once
Less sexy but still important, we also have dedicated separate office space, allowing our pilots and wider team across TechOps, Regulations and Project Management to collaborate together to make sure our operations run like clockwork.
Outside: a dedicated flying site, with advanced airspace approvals
A critical element to making sure our drone operations run to the highest standard is having our pilots trained to fly to the best of their abilities.
To replicate real-world BVLOS conditions, we’ve obtained CAA approval for BVLOS “atypical airspace” at Westcott Venture Park. This allows our pilots to fly BVLOS flights across the estate, and train for real world BVLOS deployments flying from our ROC.
An exciting new chapter
With the scope and capabilities of our drone services ever expanding, it’s paramount that we have the best facilities possible.
Our new global Drone Operations HQ ticks all the boxes, providing our top talent with best-in-class facilities and technology, with ample space for us to grow as our operations continue to scale.
If you find yourself in Buckinghamshire, and fancy coming to see the hub for yourself, we’d be more than happy to show you around – drop us a line!
