California
Amazon Will Start Drone Deliveries In Arizona This Year—And End California Service
Topline
Amazon will begin delivering packages by drone in Phoenix later this year, the company announced Monday, marking the latest expansion for its new but still fairly small drone delivery program—though California’s drone service will be ending this year.
Amazon’s new MK30 Prime Air drone is displayed during Amazon’s “Delivering the Future” event at the … [+]
Key Facts
Amazon announced customers in the West Valley of the Phoenix metro area will be able to get same-day drone deliveries later this year from a delivery site in Tolleson, Arizona, a town about 13 miles west of Phoenix.
In the same release announcing the expansion of the program into Arizona, Amazon said it will close its drone delivery site near Sacramento, California—though all employees will be offered opportunities at other sites.
Prime Air, Amazon’s drone delivery program, aims to get packages that are five pounds or smaller to customers in about 30 minutes, The Verge reported.
Big Number
Two. That’s how many places Amazon will be offering drone delivery once the Arizona site opens. The company began testing drone deliveries in College Station, Texas, and Lockeford, California, in 2022. Though the California option is closing, Amazon said it will continue drone delivery in Texas and “will open further U.S. locations in 2025.”
Surprising Fact
The most popular item ordered through drone delivery is AA batteries, Amazon said in a release last October. Beauty and drugstore products are also offered as some of the thousands of products available weighing less than five pounds.
Key Background
Prime Air was first outlined by Amazon founder and chairman Jeff Bezos in 2013 as a service that would allow for products to be taken from an Amazon warehouse to someone’s home in less than 30 minutes. It took the service nearly 10 years to be ready to launch, though, and just after it did, the Prime Air division was hit with layoffs, CNBC reported. The service remains small: Last May, Amazon told CNBC it made just 100 drone deliveries that year across its two markets, despite predicting it would deliver 10,000 deliveries by the end of that year. In October, Amazon revealed its newest Prime Air drone, the MK30, which is still in flight testing as of April. The new drone is quieter, can fly further than the current drone being used and “can operate in more diverse weather conditions, including light rain,” the company said. The MK30 drones are scheduled to replace Prime Air’s current drones by the end of 2024.
What We Don’t Know
Exactly when drone delivery will start in Arizona. Amazon simply said “later this year” when announcing the program’s expansion to the Phoenix area. Amazon said it is working with the Federal Aviation Administration and local officials and will begin reaching out to customers when it has received all the needed approvals.
Further Reading