By the end of this year, Amazon hopes to offer its drone-powered Amazon Prime Air service in close to 500 U.S. towns with tens of millions of customers. That’s a six-fold increase compared to where it currently offers the service, Amazon noted in a Wednesday press release.
Amazon Prime Air offers what the tech giant calls “ultrafast drone delivery” to customers. Available items include millions of groceries, electronics, cosmetics, medications and household products delivered in as little 30 minutes.
Customers in service areas can even get Apple iPhones, Samsung Galaxy cellphones, Apple AirTags, Apple AirPods, Ring doorbells, and Alpha Grillers Instant Read Food Thermometers via drone delivery. Pretty much anything that weighs less than five pounds and can fit in a box, or around 60% of the most frequently purchased items on Amazon.
Already, prime Air drone delivery sites make thousands of deliveries daily. So far, it serves customers in Arizona, Florida, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Nebraska, and Texas, with each site serving an area of 175 square miles. There are also plans to launch soon in Atlanta, Ga.; Cleveland, Ohio; Chicago, Ill.; Boise, Idaho, and New York, N.Y.
Audacy reported on the Phoenix, Ariz., launch in late 2024. We also reported on the launch of Amazon’s one-hour shopping earlier this year.
“Customers already turn to Amazon for fast Same- and Next-Day Delivery, and Prime Air provides them an even speedier option when they need it, with deliveries in as fast as 30 minutes,” said David Carbon, vice president of Amazon Prime Air. “We've already delivered hundreds of thousands of packages to customers by drone this year, and by the end of 2026 we plan to reach customers in nearly 500 cities and towns. We’re pairing the convenience of ultrafast drone delivery with the low prices and selection customers love about Amazon.”
While customers without an Amazon Prime membership pay a $4.99 delivery fee for the drone service, Prime members get free ultrafast drone delivery as an exclusive perk on orders $50 or more or $2.99 for deliveries under $50.
When they place their first order, customers will see and confirm their delivery point. Then, they can choose to keep the same delivery point for future orders or pick a new area.
“Once the drone arrives at the preferred delivery point with a customer’s order, it will check to confirm there are no people, pets, or vehicles in the way before safely delivering the package,” said Amazon. It also noted that Prime Air holds Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Part 135 certification, the same framework used for commercial air carriers, representing the highest level of FAA oversight for drone delivery operation and uses multiple systems to fly the drones safely.
