Ernesto de la Fuente, aviation sector manager
The Chantada Municipal Auditorium was the venue for the official presentation of the ESCAI (Space for Innovative Aerial Commercial Services) digital platform, promoted by Ineco, which aims to transform the use of drones in rural Spain. The event, held in the municipality of Chantada, Lugo, in the heart of the Ribeira Sacra Designation of Origin, was attended by representatives of the provincial councils of Lugo and Ourense, the Galician Food Quality Agency, the Miño-Sil Hydrographic Confederation, as well as various mayors from the area and numerous wineries and companies.
During the event, professionals from our company gave a live demonstration of how the platform works —accessible from www.escai.eu— and explained how users and operators can register, request or provide services and consult the current regulatory framework. The demonstration aroused considerable interest among those attending, both for its immediate applications and for its medium-term development potential.
Designed as a tool to connect local demand for services — wineries, cooperatives, forestry operations, public entities — with professional unmanned aircraft operators, ESCAI will enable the safe, regulated and efficient use of this technology in strategic sectors. Among the first use cases are precision viticulture, forest inspection and rural logistics.
ESCAI is part of a broader project that falls within the institutional drive for Innovative Air Mobility, and has the support of AESA (State Aviation Safety Agency), the Directorate General of Civil Aviation and ENAIRE. It is one of the first tangible developments to implement the principles set out in the Vertiport White Paper, a strategic document promoted by the SIAM cluster and coordinated by Ineco.
