Looking ahead: Of the many sci-fi tropes we've seen over the years, few are as close to becoming real as skies full of delivery drones, and Amazon is leading the way. The retail giant has announced that it plans to expand its Prime Air drone delivery service to 500 cities and towns in the United States by the end of 2026, bringing under-30-minute deliveries to tens of millions of people in the country.
Amazon's dream of widespread drone deliveries has taken over a decade of false starts and setbacks, but its vision is starting to be fulfilled. The latest expansion plan would see its current drone delivery footprint increase sixfold.
The announcement notes that Prime Air plans to launch soon in the Chicago, Illinois; Syracuse, New York; Cleveland, Ohio; Atlanta, Georgia; and Boise, Idaho metro areas, with more communities to come later this year.
It was almost 13 years ago, on December 1, 2013, when Jeff Bezos first revealed plans for Prime Air on 60 Minutes, showing off the prototype drones. Bezos predicted that the service could be operating within four or five years.
As we know, that estimate proved wildly optimistic. The FAA didn't grant Amazon permission to begin testing in US airspace until 2015, and even then, the aircraft had to remain within sight of a pilot and observer.
Amazon received a Part 135 air carrier certificate, allowing it to carry packages beyond an operator's visual line of sight, in 2020 – two years after Bezos' original deadline had passed.
Prime Air also suffered problems within Amazon. Just weeks after receiving the 2020 approval, the company fired dozens of employees as part of a reorganization and began looking at third-party manufacturers to produce some drone components. By 2022, Amazon had tested more than two dozen prototype designs but had yet to make regular deliveries to US customers.
The service finally launched in December 2022, initially delivering a small number of packages in Lockeford, California, and College Station, Texas. By May 2023, Prime Air had completed just 100 deliveries, far short of its target of 10,000 for the year. Amazon closed the Lockeford operation in April 2024 and shifted its attention to a new site in Tolleson, Arizona.
Safety problems continued after the newer MK30 drones entered service. Amazon temporarily halted operations in Arizona and Texas in early 2025 following two test crashes at its facility in Oregon caused by altitude-sensor problems. Later that year, two Prime Air drones crashed into the same construction crane in Arizona, causing extensive damage and a fire. The following month, another MK30 severed an overhead internet cable in Texas, prompting yet another FAA investigation.
Prime Air is also being investigated in the UK after a drone crashed in a garden last month.
Amazon's drones are capable of delivering packages to customers within a 7.5-mile radius of its facilities. Nearly all items weighing 5 pounds or less that fit in a large shoebox can be delivered by air.
Prime Air boss David Carbon said in March that the company will make 1 million drone deliveries this year. He added that Amazon is testing a new delivery mechanism that could allow its drones to carry a wider range of products, including fragile items such as cartons of eggs and other perishables.
Amazon to bring 30-minute drone delivery to 500 US locations by the end of 2026
