E-commerce giant Amazon (AMZN) plans to expand its drone deliveries to nearly 500 U.S. cities and towns by the end of this year.
Drone deliveries at Amazon are now expanding rapidly, 13 years after the program was first announced by company founder Jeff Bezos.
The latest expansion of “Prime Air” represents a sixfold increase from the current pace of drone deliveries at Amazon, said the company in a blog post.
Amazon is forecasting that Prime Air will make one million drone deliveries by year’s end.
Bezos set the ambitious target of building a network of drones to deliver small packages to Amazon customers in 30 minutes or less.
Over the years, the drone program has faced regulatory delays, staff cuts, and technological challenges, as well as pushback from some American communities.
However, in 2024 Amazon received regulatory approval to conduct long-range drone deliveries and Prime Air has taken off.
Amazon says it plans to make drone deliveries a critical piece of its customer service playbook.
After getting shoppers hooked on free two-day delivery, the company has moved to one-day and increasingly same-day deliveries. Most Prime Air packages arrive in about 60 minutes.
Amazon’s drones are capable of delivering packages that are up to five pounds in weight and within a 7.5-mile radius of its warehouse facilities.
AMZN stock has risen 14% over the last 12 months to trade at $259.45 U.S. per share.
