Amazon said Wednesday it will expand Prime Air to nearly 500 U.S. cities and towns by December, a sixfold increase that signals the clearest momentum yet for a program Jeff Bezos first pitched 13 years ago. The announcement lands five months after Prime Air vice president David Carbon told staff the service would hit 1 million deliveries this year, a figure the company now says it is tracking toward after completing "hundreds of thousands" so far.
The numbers behind the expansion
The current footprint spans 11 metro areas with six more coming online soon, up from the initial test beds near Dallas and Phoenix. Amazon's drones carry packages up to 5 pounds within a 7.5-mile radius of facilities, and most deliveries now land in about 60 minutes, with some completed in a few minutes. Carbon said in March the company has yet to reach diminishing returns on speed, and the latest integration of drone operations into robotic sort centers, larger than the same-day hubs that previously housed the fleet, expands the catalog of eligible items.
Competition and the speed race
The milestone is less singular than Amazon's framing suggests. Alphabet's Wing crossed 1 million commercial deliveries earlier this year across 20 U.S. markets through partners including Walmart and DoorDash. Zipline, a startup, has logged 2 million deliveries on four continents. Both rivals already use tethered lowering mechanisms; Amazon is only now trialing a "gentle delivery option" with a retractable tether to replace its current 13-foot drop, aiming to handle fragile items like eggs.
Regulatory greenlights and community pushback
A critical Federal Aviation Administration authorization for long-range flights arrived in 2024, unlocking the recent spread. But residents in pilot markets continue to raise concerns about noise, privacy and property values, the same friction that slowed early deployments. The program has also weathered staff cuts and technical setbacks since Bezos's 2013 pledge of 30-minute delivery.
Safety questions linger
An October collision between two Amazon drones and a crane in Tolleson, Arizona, remains under investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board and the FAA. Carbon told staff the drones were detecting cranes "above the industry standard" at the time. The investigation's outcome could shape how quickly the 500-city target becomes real.