FAA Administrator Bedford visits Manna’s Dublin HQ, signals US-EU alignment on drone delivery rules

FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford traveled to Dublin last week to meet with Manna drone delivery founder Bobby Healy at the company’s headquarters. The visit, which also included Avtrain CEO Julie Garland and representatives from the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA), centered on how European and US regulatory frameworks can work together to scale drone delivery operations.

The meeting comes at a critical moment. The FAA’s proposed Part 108 BVLOS rule is still being finalized after receiving thousands of public comments last October, and Manna just crossed 250,000 commercial drone deliveries under EASA and IAA oversight. Bedford is clearly doing his homework.

• The Development: FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford visited Manna’s Dublin headquarters on January 30, 2026, for talks on transatlantic drone delivery regulation.
• The “So What?”: Bedford is studying Europe’s working regulatory model for BVLOS drone delivery while the FAA’s own Part 108 rule remains in limbo. Manna’s 250,000+ deliveries give the FAA real-world operational data that no US company can match at that scale.
• The Source: Bobby Healy’s post on X and Bryan Bedford’s response on X confirmed the meeting and its focus.

Bedford’s Dublin visit puts Europe’s drone delivery track record in the spotlight

FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford visited Manna’s Dublin headquarters on January 30, 2026, to discuss European and US regulatory frameworks for commercial drone delivery and how industry and regulators can collaborate to bring these operations to scale. The visit included representatives from Ireland’s aviation authority and European drone training organization Avtrain.

Healy posted on X that the meeting was “a positive, forward-looking exchange on European & US regulatory frameworks and how industry and regulators can work together to unlock the next phase of drone delivery at scale.”

Bedford responded publicly, thanking Healy for “welcoming the FAA team” and calling cross-nation partnership “essential to unlocking the full potential of this emerging innovation while maintaining safety.” He also tagged Avtrain and Julie Garland, confirming their involvement in the discussions.

The fact that Bedford personally flew to Dublin to see Manna’s operation is telling. This was not a video call. The FAA Administrator wanted to see what a functioning, scaled drone delivery system looks like under European regulation.

Manna’s operational data gives the FAA something no US company offers

Manna has completed more than 250,000 commercial drone deliveries since launching operations, including over 60,000 flights from its hub in Dublin 15. The company recorded over 100% year-on-year delivery growth throughout 2025 and operates under both EASA certification and IAA authorization, including Ireland’s first Light UAS Operator Certificate (LUC).

That is a volume of real-world BVLOS delivery data that simply does not exist in the United States. Zipline has flown millions of autonomous miles, but mostly outside the US. Wing and Amazon have logged far fewer suburban food deliveries. Manna’s operation in a dense European suburb, with real customers ordering coffee and groceries daily, is exactly the kind of use case that Part 108 is supposed to enable in America.

Bobby Healy has publicly stated that the EU is two to three years ahead of the US on drone delivery regulation. That claim gains weight when the FAA Administrator shows up at your door. Manna’s drones fly autonomously at speeds up to 50 mph, delivering within a 2-mile radius from compact hubs that fit in a few parking spaces. The company claims profitability on each delivery at roughly $4 per flight.

Manna has also expanded to Finland with Wolt, testing cold-weather operations in Nordic conditions. That kind of climate validation data is valuable for an FAA that will eventually have to certify drone delivery in Minnesota winters and Arizona summers.

Julie Garland’s presence connects EU rulemaking directly to the FAA

Julie Garland is the founder and CEO of Avtrain, one of Europe’s leading drone training and consultancy organizations based in Dublin. She is a former airline training captain and aircraft maintenance engineer who also holds a Barrister-at-Law qualification. Her inclusion in the meeting with Bedford was not accidental.

Garland is the founding Chair of the Unmanned Aircraft Association of Ireland (UAAI) and sits on the board of JEDA, the Joint European Drone Associations. Through JEDA, she is the Irish representative on JARUS, the Joint Authorities for Rulemaking on Unmanned Systems, where she is Vice-Chair of the Industry Stakeholder’s Body Steering Committee. JARUS is the international body that develops recommended technical and operational requirements for drones that both EASA and the FAA use as reference points.

In other words, Garland sits at the exact intersection of European drone regulation and international standards development. Her presence in the room gave Bedford direct access to someone who understands both how EASA rules work in practice and how those rules connect to the international frameworks the FAA consults when writing its own regulations.

The visit comes as Part 108 faces its toughest stretch

The FAA published its Part 108 BVLOS notice of proposed rulemaking in August 2025. The 650-page proposal drew thousands of comments before the October 6 deadline, many of them critical. DJI warned the rule could ground most drones currently in use due to country-of-origin restrictions. Pilot Institute argued the proposal eliminates pathways for thousands of current operators while favoring large, well-funded companies.

Bedford himself has acknowledged the rule’s complexity. At a Commercial Drone Alliance event in September 2025, he said the FAA was “breaking some glass internally” to get Part 108 moving, and urged the industry to accept that “we aren’t going to get a perfect rule” but can “get a good rule” out quickly.

The FAA also designated two new drone test sites earlier this month, the first in nearly a decade, at the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma and Indiana Economic Development Corporation. Those sites will generate safety data to inform the final Part 108 rule.

Against that backdrop, visiting a company that already runs daily BVLOS delivery operations under a mature regulatory framework makes obvious sense. Bedford can see what the finish line looks like. The question is whether the FAA can get there without rewriting the rule from scratch.

DroneXL’s Take

This is not a photo op. When the FAA Administrator flies to Dublin to tour a drone delivery company, he’s gathering intelligence. Bedford inherited Part 108 as an unwieldy 650-page proposal that even he called “schizophrenic.” He needs to see what a working system looks like so he can figure out which parts of the US rule are unnecessary complexity and which are genuine safety requirements.

Manna’s operation is the closest thing to a live Part 108 lab that exists anywhere. Over 250,000 deliveries. EASA-certified aircraft. Autonomous flights over suburban neighborhoods. Real complaints from real residents, and real data on how to address them. That’s the evidence base Bedford needs to push back on the critics who say scaled BVLOS delivery can’t work safely.

The inclusion of Julie Garland is the detail that makes this visit more than a company tour. Garland’s position on JARUS means she can explain not just how Irish regulation works, but how the international standards that inform both EASA and FAA rulemaking are evolving. Bedford got a briefing on the entire regulatory ecosystem in one room.

I expect we’ll see direct references to European operational experience in the FAA’s response to Part 108 comments. Bedford has consistently said he wants to “get a marker in the ground” and iterate from there. Manna’s track record gives him the political cover to push a more permissive initial rule. If a Dublin-based startup can safely deliver 250,000 packages over suburban homes, the argument that American companies need five more years of testing becomes harder to defend.

Watch for the final Part 108 rule to include provisions that more closely mirror EASA’s risk-based approach to BVLOS authorization. This Dublin meeting didn’t happen by accident, and it won’t be the last conversation between the FAA and European operators. The transatlantic drone delivery regulatory gap is about to narrow. I’d put money on a working Part 108 framework by the end of 2026.

Editorial Note: AI tools were used to assist with research and archive retrieval for this article. All reporting, analysis, and editorial perspectives are by Haye Kesteloo.