Merlin New Zealand sheds light on pathway to approval

Boston-based Merlin and its New Zealand-based affiliate, Merlin NZ, are working hard to certify the Merlin Pilot autonomous flight software in New Zealand next year.

Merlin NZ is prepared to shoulder the load to ensure Merlin Pilot is put into commercial freighter service after certification by the Civil Aviation Authority of New Zealand (CAANZ), Merlin NZ Chief Executive Grant Crenfeldt says in this week's episode of “Cargo Facts Connect.”

“At that point, [we would say that] Merlin, a technology organization, has the Merlin Pilot installed into the Cessna Caravan that we have here in New Zealand,” Crenfeldt says. “And then we’ll take that aircraft, put it onto the Merlin airline AOC, similar to how a fully certified aircraft goes on to a certificate, and then we start flying commercial freight routes using that aircraft.”

The anticipated approval of the Merlin Pilot by the CAANZ in 2027 would represent the first time a conventionally crewed fixed-wing aircraft equipped with autonomous flight technology enters revenue cargo service, Crenfeldt says.

Merlin is already looking beyond New Zealand and setting its sights on obtaining FAA certification.

“The CAANZ and the FAA have a bilateral agreement, which means that if one or the other regulator certifies something, then the other regulator can choose to apply the amount of due diligence to that certification before they approve it as well,” Crenfeldt says.

Merlin's technology, for which it obtained an experimental certificate of airworthiness from the CAANZ in 2025, is designed to operate existing aircraft in commercial airspace without requiring changes to air traffic management procedures, he says.

Tune in to this week’s episode of “Cargo Facts Connect” to hear Crenfeldt speak with Editor Jeff Lee, Senior Associate Editor Robert Luke and Associate Editor Jay Aelick.