Whether drones present a “bane” or an opportunity for aviation was the topic of a panel discussion at the Singapore Airshow Aviation Leadership Summit (SAALS) on Monday. What speakers agreed on was that drones are an unstoppable phenomenon that must be somehow managed.

“It’s better that we allow it to proliferate in a controlled environment,” said Jeffrey Lam, chief operating officer of ST Aerospace (Stand G01), which is displaying a number of drones, including an unmanned hybrid vehicle that flies above and “swims” below water, here at the Singapore Airshow. The company is exploring various “safety protocols” for drones such as using parachutes and equipping them for collision avoidance, he said. “What is not clear to us is which one the regulators want,” Lam added.

Patrick Ky, European Aviation Safety Agency executive director, said European nations agreed at a conference held in Riga, Latvia, last March to adopt “at least a European-wide” approach to introducing drones into the airspace. “The choice we have made in Europe is to have a risk-based approach; depending on how you use the drone, you present a low, medium or high risk,” he explained.

The audience was evenly split 50:50 (in an electronic poll) over whether drones should be allowed to only fly in segregated airspace. Asked if a third-party provider other than an established air navigation service provider (ANSP) should be allowed to manage low-altitude airspace for drones, only 33 percent voted in favor.

Francis Schubert, deputy CEO of Swiss ANSP Skyguide and legal counsel for Canso (the Civil Air Navigation Services Organization) said he was not opposed to the concept, which has been advanced by companies including Google X and Amazon that aspire to deliver packages by drone. “I don’t see any objection that third parties could enter and manage that airspace. It’s doable,” he said, adding that drones could drive innovation in air traffic management.

Edward Bolton, assistant administrator for NextGen with the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, said he doesn’t see a future in which the FAA “would not be responsible for the airspace from the ground to the heavens.” However, Bolton said the industry should not get “hung up” on which entity provides a low-altitude airspace service, as that entity in effect would be an ANSP.

The topic of drones was raised earlier during the opening keynote addresses at the SAALS conference, with speakers calling for measured regulation of the phenomenon. “The proliferation of unmanned aircraft has introduced yet another layer of complexity in airspace management,” said Singapore’s minister for transport, Khaw Boon Wan. “We need to find the right balance in how we regulate them, in order not to stymie [the potential economic benefit].”

“They are here to stay,” assured Tony Tyler, CEO of Iata (the International Air Transport Associatio). “But we cannot allow them to be a hindrance or safety threat to commercial aviation. We need a sensible approach to regulation and a pragmatic method of enforcement for those who disregard rules and regulations and put others in danger. The issue is real,” he added.