Amazon set to expand drone delivery of lightweight packages to 500 US
cities
[August 20, 2026] By
JOSH FUNK
Millions more people may be able to get smaller, lightweight Amazon
packages delivered by drones by the end of the year under a plan the
company announced Wednesday to expand the airborne shipping to suburban
areas in nearly 500 U.S. cities.
Customers could receive the drone deliveries in as fast as 30 minutes,
Amazon said in a news release. The drones can carry packages up to 5
pounds.
The plan will intensify the battle between Amazon and Walmart to provide
consumers with the fastest delivery times. Both giants rely on a mix of
drones and drivers to deliver everything consumers have ordered.
The goal is not necessarily about cutting costs by replacing drivers and
trucks — and drones that can only carry one package at a time would have
a hard time doing that. But instead, these companies are using drones as
one tool to help keep customers happy with quicker deliveries, banking
on a faster delivery system attracting more shoppers.
Amazon’s plan would expand its drone delivery operation more than
sixfold nationwide into hundreds of new communities, including the
Chicago, Atlanta, Cleveland and Boise metro areas. The drones will
primarily fly in the suburbs well away from skyscrapers and major
airports that could cause problems. Each drone site serves multiple
cities in a metro area, and Amazon would not say exactly how many new
sites it is planning to begin flying from.
Drone delivery is growing fast but remains a small factor
Hundreds of thousands of packages have already been delivered by Amazon
drones this year, but even after this expansion drones will still only
handle a fraction of the hundreds of millions of package deliveries each
year. In addition to only being able to carry 5 pounds, the drones
Amazon builds face countless challenges from tree cover to landscaping
and inflatable pools that can make it hard to find a good drop zone.
There are also regulatory hurdles to overcome in every community where
Amazon wants to set up operations. Noise concerns also pose a potential
challenge.
“It’s still an experiment. It’s still in test and learn mode,” said
Sucharita Kodali, who is a retail analyst with Forrester.
More than two decades have passed since Amazon founder Jeff Bezos first
described his vision for drone deliveries in an interview on “60
Minutes,” which shows how hard it has been to develop the service, get
all the needed approvals and prove the concept works.
Kodali said Amazon's expansion plan “does seem aggressive but remember
that lots of the 500 may be small towns located close to one another.
The coming soon list is actually only a handful of metro areas. Also
‘launching’ in a town doesn’t mean they are getting any meaningful
sales.”
Walmart already offers drone delivery at more than 75 stores across
Arkansas, Florida, North Carolina, Georgia and Texas, but the core part
of its network relies on drivers to bring orders directly from its
stores to customers. The retail giant said earlier this year that it
planned to expand drone delivery service to 150 more stores in
partnership with Wing, a division of Alphabet, to give it 270 drone
delivery locations by 2027.
Walmart declined to comment on Amazon's announcement Wednesday because
it came one day before the company was scheduled to report earnings.
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An Amazon company logo marks the facade of a building, March
18, 2022, in Schoenefeld near Berlin. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn, File)
The novelty of drone delivery may attract orders at first
Initially, consumers might order something delivered by drone because
they are curious about it, but it’s not clear how often they will
continue to use the service, and Amazon is still working out the
economics, Kodali said.
The service will be free for Amazon Prime members who are ordering more
than $50 worth of goods, but smaller orders will cost members $2.99.
Non-members will pay $4.99 for drone delivery.
Prime members get free deliveries while non-members pay a flat fee
if the shipment is under $35 for standard delivery or up to $12.99
for same‑day shipments when available.
Kodali said drones could prove more useful for certain lightweight
deliveries that are needed urgently like prescription medications.
DoorDash and other delivery companies also are experimenting with
using drones to deliver foods and other goods.
Amazon CEO believes drone delivery will be part of the mix
Amazon’s CEO Andy Jassy told shareholders in his annual letter in
April that the company has learned a great deal by flying drones in
11 sites across Arizona, Florida, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan,
Nebraska, and Texas. In each location, the drones launch from an
Amazon warehouse and cover about 175 square miles, so it takes
multiple drone launching locations to serve a large metro area.
“Prime Air now has a design that’ll scale, plans to serve
communities with 30 million customers by year-end, and expects to
deliver half a billion packages by the end of this decade (with an
aim to deliver inside 30 minutes),” Jassy wrote.
Amazon is also continuing to invest in its warehouses, smaller
fulfillment centers closer to customers and its fleet of trucks as
the company competes to deliver packages within minutes or hours
instead of just days.
It's not clear that drone delivery is cheaper than trucks at this
point because a team of people is needed to make drone delivery
possible and those people might even earn more than a truck driver
since they may have to be licensed drone pilots.
Amazon is already certified by the Federal Aviation Administration
and the company has been awarded waivers to fly drones beyond the
line of sight of the pilots. Amazon has invested in safety measures
to help drones avoid collisions with anything else in the sky while
they are making deliveries.
The federal government has proposed a rule that would allow more
drone operators to fly beyond the horizon, but that hasn’t been
finalized yet.
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