Amazon to expand drone delivery to nearly 500 cities, towns this year

Aug. 19 (UPI) — Amazon announced Wednesday that it will expand Prime Air drone delivery to nearly 500 cities and towns by the end of the year.

Amazon plans to expand Prime Air to Georgia, Ohio, Illinois, Idaho and New York. It is already available in Arizona, Florida, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Nebraska and Texas. Its service locations span about 175 square miles each, including metro areas like Kansas City, San Antonio and Baton Rouge.

The plan to expand Prime Air would increase its service area by six times.

“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,” David Carbon, vice president of Amazon Prime Air, said in a statement. “We’ve already delivered hundreds of thousands of packages to customers by drone this year.”

Carbon estimates that Prime Air will make 1 million deliveries this year.

Prime Air’s drone delivery service started in the Dallas and Phoenix areas after receiving regulatory approval in 2024.

Items available for drone delivery include groceries, cosmetics, medications and electronics. Amazon says about 60% of the most commonly ordered items are eligible to be delivered by drone and most orders arrive about 60 minutes after purchase.