What is the Low-Altitude Economy?
The low-altitude economy refers to the full ecosystem of commercial, industrial, and public activity taking place in the airspace below traditional aviation — covering drones (UAVs/UAS), robotics, Advanced Air Mobility (AAM), and the infrastructure, data, and services that support them.
It spans everything from drone delivery and agricultural surveying to counter-drone systems, air taxis (eVTOLs), and autonomous ground and aquatic vehicles.
The low-altitude economy (LAE) is an emerging sector encompassing all commercial activities conducted in airspace below 1,000 metres above ground level.
It brings together three core components: the aircraft themselves (eVTOLs, autonomous drones, helicopters, airships), the infrastructure (vertiports, charging stations, air traffic management systems), and the services they enable (passenger transport, cargo delivery, emergency response, tourism, and surveillance).
The Scale of the Opportunity
The numbers are significant. Deloitte Access Economics, commissioned by Australia’s Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications, found that medium drone uptake in Australia alone could boost real GDP by A$14.5 billion and deliver cost savings of A$9.3 billion across all sectors between 2020 and 2040.
That same analysis projects the creation and support of 5,500 full-time equivalent jobs on average each year over that period.
The sectoral breakdown tells its own story. In present value terms over 2020 to 2040, agriculture, forestry and fishing stands to gain A$3.49 billion, mining A$2.48 billion, transport A$2.1 billion, and construction A$1.35 billion.
Airservices Australia projects annual drone flights in Australian skies will surge from 1.5 million in 2023 to 60.4 million by 2043, with 77% of that growth driven by transport and logistics. By 2043, the same analysis forecasts 1.5 million food deliveries to Australian households by drone annually, and nearly 1 million electric air taxi flights.
Where it is Being Used Right Now
The low-altitude economy is not a future concept. It is already active across multiple sectors:
- Agriculture: Crop monitoring, livestock surveillance, and spray application. Drone market penetration in agriculture is projected to reach up to 75% by 2040.
- Mining: 3D mapping, ore control, rock fragmentation measurement, and stability monitoring.
- Construction: Surveying, mapping, remote condition monitoring, and site inspections.
- Emergency services: Australia’s emergency services sector is projected to achieve a net productivity increase of 10% from drone use, resulting in a A$460 million net boost to the national economy.
- Fire detection: Drone use in early fire detection could deliver savings of between A$1–8 billion, based on modelling using data from the 2019–20 bushfire season.
- Delivery: Wing, which began drone delivery in Australia in 2019, scaled to over 1,000 deliveries daily in Logan, Australia by 2022.
- Healthcare: Wing partnered with Apian and the NHS in 2024 to deliver lab samples over central London, cutting transportation time from 30 to 2 minutes.
Why Queensland — and the Gold Coast — Matters
South East Queensland is positioning itself as the APAC first-mover in the low-altitude economy, with the Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games as a target milestone.
Global Drone® 2026 sits at the centre of that ambition. Running 11 – 13 November, 2026 at Cbus Super Stadium, Robina, the event brings together the full UAS spectrum — aerial, terrestrial, and aquatic — alongside robotics and AI, in one platform. It is positioned as the only event globally covering this full spectrum.
The event includes:
- Expo: 200 exhibitors across UAS, robotics and aerospace, with live flight and ground demonstrations on the stadium field, targeting 15,000 general attendees in Year 1
- Congress: Six industry summits across Advanced Air Mobility, Agri-Business, Defence Robotics and Counter-UAS, Future Forecast and Innovation, Future Invest x Pitch Fest, and Entertainment and Sport plus Health and Natural Disaster Response, with a projected 700 delegate attendees
- Flight: The Drone Zone on the playing field, staging 120 aerial, terrestrial, and aquatic drone demonstrations across three days
Why it Matters for Business
Whether you operate in agriculture, mining, construction, defence, logistics, emergency services, or technology, the low-altitude economy is already intersecting with your sector. The question is not whether to engage, but when and how.
Global Drone® 2026 is where those conversations happen — with the buyers, investors, government stakeholders, and industry leaders who are shaping what comes next.
Register Your Interest
Interested in attending, exhibiting or sponsoring Global Drone® 2026? Explore the website to find the right pathway for you, or contact the Global Drone team at info@globaldroneshow.com for more information.
