Harmonized Skies 2026 is designed to combine strategic discussions, real-world experience, and valuable networking opportunities. Through high-level plenary sessions and expert panels, attendees will gain insights into the latest regulatory and industry developments, while live demonstrations and site visits will showcase real-world implementations in action. The experience will be complemented by dedicated networking moments, including a networking cocktail co-hosted with ASTM and an exclusive conference dinner, creating opportunities to build meaningful connections with regulators, industry leaders, and innovators from across the ecosystem.
Mobile connectivity has the potential to become a critical enabler of next-generation aviation, from BVLOS drone operations and autonomous systems to advanced air mobility and increasingly connected aircraft.
As 4G and 5G capabilities evolve, mobile networks can provide wide-area connectivity, identification, authentication, and increasingly sophisticated support for aerial users. Yet moving from technical possibility to safe, reliable and commercially viable deployment at scale requires closer alignment across industries. The use of commercial mobile networks is also changing the paradigm of aviation communications, creating new technical, regulatory and business model considerations.
This invite-only roundtable will bring together MNOs, network and technology vendors, drone and UAS manufacturers, UTM providers, aviation stakeholders and regulators to explore what is possible today, identify the barriers to scale and, most importantly, determine what the ecosystem can do collectively to advance connected aviation.
invitation only, if you are interested in joining, please send an email to: [email protected]The discussion will compare the evolving approaches of the FAA (United States), JCAB (Japan) and FOCA, representing the European U-space framework, and examine how international standards, regulatory convergence and mutual recognition can build trust between jurisdictions and reduce barriers to global market access. The panel will cover the full spectrum of BVLOS operations, from small drones to larger uncrewed aircraft, including eVTOL and Advanced Air Mobility (AAM).
As drone operations and UTM services become increasingly digital and cross-border, the challenge is no longer only to develop common standards, but to ensure that regulators can rely on them and that industry can demonstrate compliance efficiently across multiple jurisdictions.
The discussion will examine the complete chain from regulatory requirements to standards, implementation, testing and regulatory acceptance. It will explore how SDOs, CAAs, industry and testing organisations can enable common compliance approaches, including automated testing and reusable compliance evidence, allowing companies to expand across markets while reducing duplication for both industry and regulators.
Asia-Pacific is emerging as a major testing ground for Advanced Air Mobility, with Japan and Korea developing ambitious programmes around eVTOLs and larger uncrewed aircraft. But scaling these operations will require more than new aircraft and vertiports. The economic promise of AAM depends on highly automated operations, while automation itself requires a predictable operating environment supported by trusted digital infrastructure.
The discussion will explore how UTM, automated traffic management and emerging concepts such as automated flight rules can enable the transition from today’s piloted demonstrations and fixed corridors towards high-density autonomous operations. It will examine how Japan and Korea can build a common digital aviation infrastructure supporting different classes of aircraft and levels of risk, while increasing performance and assurance as operations evolve from small drones to cargo aircraft and passenger-carrying eVTOLs.
Exploring how mobile networks can evolve from providing connectivity to becoming a trusted and predictable layer of digital aviation infrastructure. As drone and AAM operations become increasingly automated, operators and UTM systems need more than coverage: they need to know what communications performance is available along an intended trajectory, whether it satisfies the requirements of the operation, and how the system will respond when network performance changes.
The discussion will bring together GSMA, mobile network operators and technology providers to examine how connectivity, network data and standardised APIs can support scalable UTM operations. It will address service-volume and Quality-of-Service information, performance-based C2, identity and authentication, positioning, roaming, network-derived operational data and the role of GSMA Open Gateway and CAMARA in allowing aviation applications to access telecom capabilities consistently across networks and markets.
Examining where drone operations are creating real value today across Japan and the wider Asia-Pacific region, from logistics and infrastructure inspection to agriculture, surveying, emergency response and other industrial applications. The discussion will look beyond demonstrations to understand which operations have reached recurring commercial deployment, what customers are buying, and where viable business models are emerging.
The panel will then examine what prevents successful individual operations from scaling into larger markets. Operators and customers will discuss regulatory approvals, aircraft and operational costs, workforce and automation, access to airspace and digital infrastructure, customer demand and integration into existing business processes. Comparing APAC experience with developments in Europe and the United States, the panel will identify which barriers are regional, which are global, and what can be learned from markets that are scaling faster.
Reflecting on a decade of GUTMA activities, achievements, and industry impact, with perspectives on future priorities for the association and its members.
With over 1.5 million UTM-supported flights projected this year alone, the low-altitude drone economy is transitioning rapidly from localized trials to commercial density. However, unlocking widespread market viability and meeting ambitious scale targets in Japan and beyond in the coming years requires breaking out of geographic and regulatory silos and enabling digitization, automation, and harmonization.
This panel brings together leaders from regulators, commercial delivery networks, vertically integrated platforms, and open-source UTM initiatives to deliver a comprehensive snapshot of the scaling global UTM ecosystem. What enables scale now and in the future? To answer, this panel will cover a range of operations, business models, and frameworks accelerating the low-altitude economy.
Demonstrations of drone flight operations (including flight plan coordination and ground risk assessments in anticipation of the UTM Service Provider system) will take place at Uminomori.