Drone Services Market Size, Share & Trends Analysis Report By Type (Drone Platform Services, Drone Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul Services, Drone Training and Education Services), By Duration of Services (Short-duration Services, Long-duration services), By Application (Aerial Photography and Remote Sensing, Data Acquisition and Analytics, Mapping and Surveying, Modeling, Disaster Risk Management and Mitigation, Inspection and Environmental Monitoring, Others), By Solution (Enterprise, Point) and By Region(North America, Europe, APAC, Middle East and Africa, LATAM) Forecasts, 2024-2032

Market Overview

The global drone services market size was valued at USD 17100.1million in 2023. It is expected to reach USD 146379.97 million by 2032, growing at a CAGR of 27.1% during the forecast period (2024-2032).

Drone service is acknowledged as an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) service. It is a swiftly increasing market for services based on flying robots that can be managed distantly or flown autonomously through software-controlled flight plans in their entrenched devices. Drones are utilized in international passenger and cargo transportation, depending on the requirements of various industries, such as tourism, logistics, and defense. Commercial drone services or Drones as a Service are intended to give a hand to vital sectors like agriculture, construction, search & rescue, package delivery, industrial inspection, insurance, and videography with jobs such as gathering imagery and dimensions and handling or propagating events.

An increase in demand for time-efficient delivery services, a rise in demand for industry-specific solutions, and cyber security concerns related to drones are most likely to increase the pace of the global drone services market expansion. Cyber security problems with drones and restricted operational bandwidths for drones obstruct the development of the drone services market. Refurbishment of the government's regulatory framework and technological development in drones are projected to endow with profitable opportunities for the growth of the global drone services market.

Market Dynamics

Market Drivers

Demand for Time-Efficient Delivery Service

The global market for e-commerce and logistics has expanded significantly in recent years. The demand for time-effective delivery solutions for the international transportation of vital commodities is driven by the expansion of the e-commerce and logistics industries. For instance, ANA Holdings Inc. and Wingcopter established cooperation in 2021 to hasten the development of essential drone delivery infrastructure for pharmaceuticals and other consumer goods. Building a drone delivery system throughout Japan was the goal of the alliance. Drone delivery systems were introduced by the two biggest e-commerce and logistics companies, Amazon and DHL, to make speedy deliveries and transfer products to locations inaccessible by traditional transportation methods. In addition, DHL Express and EHang partnered strategically in 2019 to introduce an intelligent and automated smart drone delivery solution in China's cities.

 The smart drone delivery system in China will provide an energy-saving, effective, and economical autonomous delivery service. Commercial delivery organizations are permitted to use drones to perform deliveries by aviation administrations worldwide. For instance, the Federal Aviation Administration granted Wing, a startup owned by Alphabet, permission to use drones for commercial deliveries in the US in 2019. The Wing was able to perform drone-based deliveries in Virginia thanks to the approval. Additionally, the benefits of using drones for delivery, such as their safe and effective operations, encourage business companies worldwide to embrace them for delivery and invest in the development of drone delivery systems. The factors driving the growth of the drone delivery market during the anticipated timeframe are the rising use of drone delivery systems to improve efficacy and increase the cost-effectiveness delivery systems.

Industry-Specific Solutions Are in Demand

As a result of economic intensification, the demand for cost-cutting has also increased over the years. Hence, the enlargement of high-efficacy solutions in the global industries is expected to drive the market growth of drone services. The increase in demand advances the requirement for reasonably priced, easy-to-execute, and high-value on-demand personalized systems for the distinctive necessity of various industries. The drone manufacturers have enlarged the expansion of customized drones for stockroom administration, capturing, viewing, and analyzing aerial imagery for agriculture, mining, utility, power, media, telecommunication, logistics, oil & gas, and construction industries. This is considered to be a driving factor for market growth.

Market Restraints

Concerns Related to Cyber Security

Drone deployment in commercial and personal applications has increased due to drones' adaptability, low cost, and excellent efficiency. The growing use of drones in many applications has also raised the risk to their users' cybersecurity. The GPS, USB ports, and other technologies included in current drones can serve as a crucial cybersecurity target for hijackers to quickly hijack the drone. The hackers can also exploit the drones by accessing the unencrypted Wi-Fi and GPS technologies employed by the drones to converse. Thus, such factors could possibly impede the expansion of the drone service market.

Market Opportunities

Updated Regulatory Framework

Before flying, drone operators must adhere to the country's aviation regulatory standards. Regulatory bodies have opted to incorporate drones in their framework to assist the expansion of drone services. This is because of the benefits of drones, like low energy consumption, reduced air, and noise pollution, and decreased traffic congestion. Drone operators use the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) technology for navigation due to the demand for Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) operations.

Governments restrict the application of regional Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS), including GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, Beidou, and others. New laws are being created by aviation administrations all around the world to encourage the increased use of drones. To make it easier for different industries to embrace drones, the regulatory agencies have loosened restrictions on drone operation worldwide, including authorization, certification, and spatial limitations. The hospitable government regulatory environment allows the drone service business to expand.

Regional Analysis

The regional classification of the global drone service market includes North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and LAMEA.

North America is predicted to command the regional market while expanding at a CAGR of 40.81%. North America is a region with the most advanced technology. The area has seen a significant surge in cutting-edge unmanned autonomous systems (UAS) technologies to eliminate the need for human labor and improve output quality across various industries. To enhance the efficiency of their operations, the North American nations are making significant investments in the use of drone services. For instance, Draganfly Inc. stated in 2021 that it had agreed to a USD 1 million services agreement with Windfall Geotek Inc. implement EagleEyeä AI flight services. Flight services will use artificial intelligence to forecast possible mining targets for Windfall Geotek Inc.

The real estate and construction industries are expanding in Canada, encouraging market expansion. The region's drone services market has a chance to develop due to Mexico's sizable gas and oil industries. During the projection period in North America, such reasons will increase the demand for drone services. North American government organizations are frequently utilizing drone solutions to better serve their citizens. The market will expand as a result of these trends.

Europe is most likely to have a shareholding of USD 40,557 million, expanding at a CAGR of 41.61% during the forecast period. The European region's political and economic union helps boost the drone services industry there. The European Union has taken several steps to develop a viable drone service industry in the area. For instance, the European Union implemented EU-wide legislation to replace state-specific national rules controlling drone use in 2020. The market for drone services in Europe is expanding due to the new restrictions. The EU has also worked on initiatives using drones to examine and keep an eye on infrastructure built in the area.

Segmental Analysis

The global drone service market is bifurcated based on the type, duration of services, application and solution.

By type, the segments are drone platform services, drone maintenance, repair, & overhaul services, and drone training & education services.

The drone platform services segment is predicted to advance at a CAGR of 40.8% and hold the largest share. The drone offers commercial and residential sector services like photography, construction site supervision, assessment, orthomosaic and aerial survey, data capture and analysis services, drone modeling, and others. Besides this, drone service is widely adopted in crucial industries like defense, energy and power, homeland security, and other vital sectors. This has led to market growth for the primary drone service providers.

The drone maintenance, repair & overhaul services segment will hold the second-largest market share. It includes illustration assessment, scheduled sustenance, delivery related to additional components, and computerized imperfection recognition. This type of drone helps several industries like aviation, telecommunication, space, and defense to decrease the time and cost. Due to this reason, the market is expected to experience market growth.

Based on the duration of service, fragments are short-duration services and long-duration services.

The short-duration drone service section will likely have the most significant shareholding, growing at a CAGR of 40.52%. Short-duration drone service includes activities related to business, like supervising and assessment, performed over a short period. This type of drone is utilized in volume surveys, tracking the status of ongoing construction, assessing conditions of large buildings, and capturing high-resolution aerial photos, among other applications.

The long-duration service section will hold the second-largest share. This segment includes delivery, aerial monitoring, data collection, and data processing services in a self-governing mode relying upon necessity. Long-duration services offer businesses to improve their efficacy in the process and diminish the occurrences of human mistakes leading to market growth.

By application, the segments are aerial photography & remote sensing, data acquisition & analytics, mapping & surveying, modeling, disaster risk management & mitigation, inspection & environmental monitoring and others.

The mapping and surveying segment will rise at a CAGR of 40.9% and hold the largest share. This segment is crucial as drones are mostly practiced as a specialized tool that permits surveyors and mappers to accumulate essential data and measurements for terrain mapping, site planning, and other applications, saving manpower, finance, and time. Due to reason, drones are employed by several vital industries leading to market growth.

The aerial photography & remote sensing section will hold the second-largest share. Drones come outfitted with a highly developed payload, such as EO/IR (Electro-Optical/Infra-Red) camera systems. These advanced payloads assist drones in offering high-quality circumstantial consciousness daily and in low light conditions. Drones put forward the aptitude to obtain information regarding the target devoid of making contact with the target, which boosts the demand for the drone in remote sensing applications leading to market growth.

Based on the solution, the drone services market is fragmented into enterprises and points.

The enterprise segment is anticipated to hold the largest market share and grow at a CAGR of 42.11%. Drone enterprise solutions include enterprise drones and software. These solutions are offered for industries like public safety, insurance, broadcast media, construction & engineering, agriculture, oil & gas, and roads & railways. Drone services are utilized in the automation of the traditional business procedure of a company for plummeting the time and cost necessary in the completion of business movement.

The point drone service section will hold the second-largest share. These are concentrated and are practiced to execute a solitary task per the customer's needs. The point drone services consist of cell tower inspections, construction progressions, and roof assessments.

Impact of covid-19

The COVID-19 pandemic has created havoc in the entire world. All the sectors around the world were drastically affected. There was chaos in the healthcare sector due to the increasing number of patients worldwide. An automatic organization system had become a need for the hour in this situation. The world healthcare facilities were not prepared for this COVID-19 outbreak, and hence the demand for these systems quickly increased.

After the pandemic, the hospitals realized the need to have quality management systems for administration and overall operations. In such a difficult time, medical errors should be avoided as the number of fatal incidents was already surging in the second wave. It is also crucial for healthcare facilities to keep up with the regulatory landscape concerning the use of the software. Continuous training to understand these changes and requirements due to developing technologies has become necessary post-pandemic. Due to these reasons, the need for medical QMS software will rise in the forecast period. 

Recent Developments

• In 2022, AgEagle announced eBee X. It is the first drone in its class to receive design verification essential for BVLOS and operations over people from European Union Aviation Safety Agency.
• In 2022, Cyberhawk introduced Taz, a drone-based inspection of overhead powerlines.