How drones make money — survey

A survey of New Zealand drone users has revealed how those who use them for business make their money, and that most operators believe there should be some form of mandatory training.

Respondents appeared to be less concerned about abiding by privacy regulations, with less than half saying they always ensure they have all the necessary landowner approvals for a flight.

Drone use is growing rapidly in New Zealand and an online survey by Airways invited 7000 operators on its Airshare database to participate, receiving 1442 responses.

Of those 60 per cent were recreational operators flying as a hobby or for fun, with the remainder commercial operators flying for a business purpose.

Of commercial operators, close to 80 per cent used them for photography and filming. Real estate (39.86 per cent) and construction (37.57 per cent ) were the two sectors operators most commonly provided services to.

The average turnover for drone activities was $108,000 a year, although there was a big range — from $1000 up to $1 million.

Of commercial operators, 70 per cent of businesses and organisations were expecting their drone use or demand for services to increase over the next year and 53 per cent of respondents expected their drone related turnover to increase next year, by an average of 38 per cent or $20,000 a year.

Photography-filmography (61 per cent) and survey/inspection work (46 per cent) were the industries that businesses and organisations believed they were most likely to expand into.

On average, businesses and organisations had four staff involved in drone activity.

One third of businesses and organisations were expecting to hire more staff over the next year. The average number of new staff hired was four.

Drone operators are telling us there should be stricter enforcement. Trent Fulcher, Airways’ head of strategy

Of the respondents, 36 per cent expected their drone related research and development to increase next year, by an average of 44 per cent or $12,000.

Airways’ head of strategy Trent Fulcher said there were between 70 to 80 notified flights a week — mainly from commercial operators.

“Drone operators are telling us that there should be stricter enforcement of rules and harsher penalties for those who don’t comply, freer access to airspace and simpler process for gaining land owner approval,” Fulcher said.

Asked whether there should be some form of mandatory training, 59 per cent agreed.