Albuquerque selected for autonomous cargo flights in FAA pilot program

Albuquerque landed at the center of a federal bet on autonomous aviation as Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy toured Reliable Robotics’ hangar at Albuquerque International Sunport and highlighted the company’s role in the FAA’s Advanced Air Mobility Integration Pilot Program. The project places Bernalillo County in a real-world test of whether cargo flights run by automation can move beyond theory and into controlled commercial service.

Reliable Robotics and the City of Albuquerque Aviation Department were selected for the program on March 9, 2026. Under the enhanced Integration Pilot Program, known as eIPP, Reliable’s wholly owned subsidiary, Reliable Airlines, is set to conduct autonomous cargo operations from Albuquerque International Sunport, New Mexico’s largest commercial airport, to Durango-La Plata County Airport in Colorado and Santa Fe Regional Airport.

The companies say the work is designed to connect Albuquerque and other communities in the Four Corners region with autonomous commercial cargo aircraft. If the program reaches completion, they say it would mark the first commercial operation of regional air cargo service by a large UAS in the United States, a milestone that could give Albuquerque an outsized role in the next phase of aviation logistics.

Reliable is pitching the system as an always-on autopilot for taxi, takeoff, en route flight and landing. The company says its Detect and Avoid system uses radar and ACAS X, the FAA’s airborne collision avoidance technology, and that the platform is built to improve safety by reducing risks tied to loss of control and controlled flight into terrain.

The company also says the technology is designed to work with existing infrastructure and aircraft, with no modifications required at existing airports. That matters in a place like Albuquerque, where the Sunport already serves as a regional aviation gateway and where the practical question is not only whether autonomous cargo can fly, but whether it can slot into the airport system without major new construction.

Mayor Tim Keller said the partnership helps Albuquerque “reshape the future of aviation.” Reliable CEO and co-founder Robert Rose said the selection shows the administration’s support for aircraft autonomy and could connect more communities with air service while making aviation safer and more accessible.

For Bernalillo County, the significance is larger than one demonstration flight. The Sunport is now part of a first-in-the-nation autonomous cargo test in controlled airspace, with Albuquerque serving as the operational base for a federal program aimed at the rural and small-town markets of the Four Corners region.