Airport inspections with drones: ITE addresses the future at the Willis Airport Conference
From 7 to 9 October, Cannes (France) will host the Willis Airport Conference 2026, organised by WTW, an event that will bring together professionals from the airport and aviation sectors. Within this framework, Juan Díaz, Director of Drone Solutions at ITE, will analyse how drone technology is transforming the inspection and calibration of air navigation systems and what the main challenges are in progressing towards increasingly autonomous operations.
Airport inspections enter a new era
The incorporation of drones is making it possible to transform traditionally complex processes, improve operational efficiency and reduce the impact of certain inspections on airport activity. However, the real challenge lies not only in adopting the technology, but in integrating it safely, within a regulated framework and in a coordinated manner across the airport ecosystem.
Juan Díaz, Head of ITE’s Drone Solutions unit, will discuss this evolution during the upcoming Willis Airport Conference 2026, in a session entitled “Drone-based airport inspections and calibration”. His presentation will address everything from the limitations of traditional methods to the opportunities offered by increasingly automated operations.
CANARD: international experience in drone-based airport inspections
At the Willis Airport Conference 2026, Juan Díaz will address this evolution from the experience built through CANARD, a drone-based solution for the inspection of air navigation systems and airport infrastructure.
CANARD in figures:
- more than 10 years of experience;
- more than 800 inspections carried out;
- presence in 100 airports;
- operations in 25 countries;
- application in air navigation systems and airport infrastructure.
From the traditional model to a new way of inspecting
The session will begin by analysing how airport inspections and calibrations are currently carried out and what their main limitations are from an operational, economic and safety perspective. As Juan Díaz explains, before discussing the capabilities of drones, it is necessary to understand the problem they are intended to solve: “Airport inspections require precision, safety and coordination, but they can also involve high costs, operational disruptions and difficulties in accessing certain areas.”
Faced with these limitations, drone technology opens up new possibilities for collecting data more quickly, accessing complex or potentially hazardous areas and reducing disruption to airport operations.
The experience accumulated by ITE through CANARD makes it possible to move this debate from a purely technological perspective to practical application, with real operations and measurable results in terms of efficiency, accuracy, repeatability and costs.
The major challenge: Integrating drones into the airport environment
One of the central themes of the presentation will be the challenges that still need to be overcome in order to achieve wider implementation of drone-based inspections.
The technology is already proving its capabilities, but its integration into an airport environment requires addressing issues related to operational risk, regulatory requirements and, above all, coordination among all stakeholders involved: airport operators, air navigation service providers, technical teams and drone operators.
“The main challenge is not proving that a drone can carry out an inspection. The real challenge is integrating that operation into a real airport environment, complying with all safety and regulatory requirements and coordinating all the teams involved in the process.”
— Juan Díaz
This perspective highlights a fundamental aspect of the sector’s technological transformation: innovation must be integrated into existing procedures without compromising operational safety. The incorporation of drones therefore requires the combination of technology, regulation, procedures and coordination between different organisations.
From innovation to real operations
The conference will also provide an opportunity to discuss the current state of drone-based inspections through use cases that have already been implemented. CANARD’s experience provides a real-world basis for analysing the impact of this technology through indicators related to efficiency, accuracy, repeatability and costs.
“We should no longer focus solely on whether we can use drones to inspect an airport,” notes Juan Díaz, “but on how we can do so in a repeatable, efficient and safe manner, and what value the data obtained actually provides.”
This evolution is particularly important because it shifts the focus not only to the drone flight itself, but also to the entire inspection process and the information it generates. Data capture thus becomes the first step in a much broader technological value chain.
The future: Towards increasingly autonomous drone operations
If drones are currently transforming the way certain inspections are carried out, the next step will be to move towards increasingly autonomous operations.
Mission automation, remote supervision, data processing and the integration of results with airport asset management and maintenance systems paint a picture in which the drone will no longer be merely an information-gathering tool, but will become an integrated component within the airport’s digital systems.
“The future is not simply about using drones to carry out inspections,” explains Juan Díaz. “It is about developing increasingly autonomous operations: automated missions, remote supervision, data processing and direct integration with airport asset management and maintenance systems.”
This change may enable the entire process, from mission planning through to data acquisition, processing and utilisation, to become increasingly automated, generating useful information for decision-making and facilitating more efficient infrastructure management.
From the drone as a tool to the drone as part of the airport ecosystem
The evolution of these solutions therefore points towards ever-greater integration between drone operations and the digital systems that manage airport infrastructure.
“We are moving from using the drone as a tool to perform a specific task to integrating it within a much broader technological ecosystem,” says Juan Díaz. “That integration will be key to making inspections more efficient and ensuring that the data obtained has real value in airport management.”
In this scenario, drone technology can become another element within an airport infrastructure digitalisation strategy, connecting inspection activities with asset management, maintenance and decision-making.
A transformation already underway
Juan Díaz’s participation in the Willis Airport Conference 2026 will provide an opportunity to share the experience accumulated by ITE in the practical application of this technology and to address a key question for the future of the sector: how to move from using drones to carry out inspections to building more automated, connected and autonomous operations.
With more than 800 inspections at 100 airports in 25 countries, CANARD’s experience demonstrates that this transformation no longer belongs solely to the realm of innovation. The next challenge will be to consolidate its integration into airport processes and move towards a model in which technology, data and automation work together to improve the safety, efficiency and quality of inspections.