Amazon to Expand Drone Delivery Sixfold

Amazon has announced plans to expand its drone delivery service to nearly 500 cities and towns by the end of 2026 — six times the area it currently covers. The Prime Air service is expected to soon launch in metro areas including Atlanta, Chicago, Cleveland, Boise, Idaho, and Syracuse, New York, adding to the current footprint, where Amazon drones already operate in parts of Arizona, Florida, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Nebraska and Texas.

Prime Air delivers millions of products weighing up to 5 pounds (about 2.3 kilograms) and small enough to fit in a large shoebox — including items like an Apple iPhone or a Ring doorbell — within 30 minutes, and in most cases in about an hour. That covers more than 60% of Amazon's best-selling products. Drone delivery doesn't operate at night or during high winds and poor weather conditions.

David Carbon, Amazon's vice president of Prime Air, said the company has already delivered hundreds of thousands of packages by drone this year. Zak Stambor, Emarketer's principal analyst for retail and e-commerce, said the logic is simple: the faster Amazon can deliver, the more store-trip purchases it can pull into its own ecosystem. Down the line, the technology could also serve as a complement to Amazon's existing logistics network, particularly in rural areas where traditional last-mile delivery is difficult.

The expansion marks the latest stage in the rapid-delivery race between Amazon and Walmart, which continues to grow its own drone service with partner Wing, while DoorDash recently secured Federal Aviation Administration approval and rolled out its own in-house drone program. Non-Prime customers pay $4.99 for drone delivery, Prime members pay $2.99, and orders over $50 ship free.