Amazon: drone delivery to come to the UK and Italy in 2024 - where do they drone deliver in the US?

Amazon drone delivery is expanding to the UK in one location in 2024, the tech giant has had.

The online retail giant said the service would begin in one location, with the location to be confirmed in the coming months.

The company already offers drone deliveries in two US states, California and Texas, for goods weighing no more than 5lbs (2.2kg). The new plan is part of an expansion of drone deliveries within the company’s retail business, which will also see it be introduced in Italy.

Amazon previously ran a short trial of an earlier version of the Prime Air drone delivery system in Cambridgeshire in 2016 but it said that it would no longer use standalone Prime Air drone delivery centres, but would integrate drones into its existing delivery network.

Amazon said: "As part of our continued efforts to innovate for customers, we are excited to announce the expansion of Prime Air delivery internationally, for the first time outside the US. We have been delivering packages by drone for almost a year in California and in Texas.

"We have built a safe, reliable delivery service and have partnered very closely with regulators and communities.We will continue with that collaboration into the future to ensure we are meeting the needs of our customers and the communities we serve.”

The US tech giant said it had been working with the UK government and aviation authorities on the introduction of the technology to UK airspace and the announcement came alongside the unveiling the company’s latest drone for deliveries – the MK30 – which Amazon says can fly twice as far as previous Prime Air models, is quieter, and able to fly in more diverse weather conditions.

The aviation minister, Baroness Vere, said: “Amazon’s announcement today is a fantastic example of Government and industry coming together to achieve our shared vision for commercial drones to be commonplace in the UK by 2030.

“Not only will this help boost the economy, offering consumers even more choice while helping keep the environment clean with zero emission technology, but it will also build our understanding how to best use the new technology safely and securely.”

Frederic Laugere, head of innovation advisory services at the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), said: “Exploring the options of how drones can be safely and successfully incorporated into more of the UK’s airspace is key.

“It is vital that projects such as this take place to feed into the overall knowledge and experiences that will soon enable drones to be operating beyond the line of sight of their pilot on a day-to-day basis, while also still allowing safe and equitable use of the air by other users.”