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Government regulators plan to review drone designs in the same way they review other aircraft, a major step toward allowing routine drone deliveries and other flights over congested cities.

UPS Inc. won U.S. certification to fly drones under regulations similar to those for airlines, a milestone that allows the company to vastly expand airborne deliveries.

Grants totaling $477 million will be used to assist with repairs and expansions at 264 airports, the U.S. Department of Transportation announced July 10.

An offshoot of Alphabet Inc.’s Google has become the first drone operator to receive government approval as an airline, an important step that gives it the legal authority to begin dropping products to actual customers.

The strain of a 34-day partial government shutdown is weighing on the nation’s air-travel system, both the federal workers who make it go and the airlines that depend on them. Air traffic controllers and airport security agents continued to work without pay — they will miss a second biweekly paycheck Jan. 25 — but high absentee rates raise the threat of long airport lines, or worse.

A five-year bill that would authorize federal aviation programs set to expire at the end of the month could be called up for a vote in the U.S. House as early as Sept. 26.

The millions of small civilian drones plying the nation’s skies can cause significant damage to airliners and business jets in a midair collision, new research commissioned by the Federal Aviation Administration concluded.

Deputy Administrator Mike Whitaker will leave the Federal Aviation Administration at the end of June, the agency announced May 24.