Teterboro, New Jersey

Jet Aviation brings drone and AI aircraft inspections to the US

Jet Aviation is rolling out automated drone and AI-powered inspections at its US locations, giving customers a new way to document and track the exterior condition of their aircraft.

The technology produces detailed digital reports that map an aircraft's entire outer surface, capturing a level of coverage and consistency that's difficult to replicate with traditional manual inspections.

While it sits outside formal airworthiness processes - making it a non-regulated service - the reports can be used alongside existing workflows like pre-purchase inspections (PPIs), or called upon in insurance and warranty situations. For owners and operators, it means having an accurate, timestamped record on file that can be referenced whenever it's needed.

“We are incredibly excited to work with our colleagues in Europe to bring this new and unique service to our customers in the US,” says David Best, senior vice president regional operations & GM Americas.

“Our team is committed to listening to, and working closely with, our customers to grow our regional offering in ways that make a real difference to the owner and operator experience. The drone and AI technology offers our managed and FBO customers additional peace of mind, providing an accurate, comprehensive, digitized report of the exterior of the aircraft for their records now and in the future. We look forward to continuing to explore this service and bringing even more innovative solutions to customers in the region.”

Jet Aviation first piloted the approach in 2023 at its MRO hub and global headquarters in Basel, Switzerland, in partnership with Donecle, a specialist in drone and AI technology for the aviation sector. The process gained formal recognition the following year when the Swiss Federal Office of Civil Aviation approved it for General Visual Inspections, lending credibility to the technology and helping build the case for rolling it out more broadly.

Bringing the service to the US is the next step in that expansion. Jet Aviation's managed and FBO customers across the country can now access the technology as a standalone service or as an added layer of detail within existing inspection events. The system is compatible with a wide range of business jets and narrow-body aircraft, with support for wide-body types continuing to grow as the programme develops.