Amazon’s Prime Air drone delivery set to take off in nearly 500 U.S. cities

Amazon is preparing to dramatically expand its Prime Air drone delivery service, with plans to bring autonomous deliveries to nearly 500 U.S. cities and towns by the end of 2026. The expansion would represent a sixfold increase from the company’s current footprint and bring faster delivery options to tens of millions of customers.

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A Major Expansion for Prime Air

Prime Air currently operates from 11 locations across seven states, including Arizona, Florida, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Nebraska and Texas. Amazon says new service is planned for metropolitan areas including Chicago, Cleveland, Atlanta, Syracuse, New York, and Boise, Idaho, with additional communities expected to follow later this year.

The service is designed to deliver eligible packages in as little as 30 minutes. Amazon says its drones can carry packages weighing up to five pounds, covering more than 60% of the products customers most frequently purchase. Eligible items include groceries, electronics, cosmetics, household products and other everyday essentials.

Each Prime Air delivery site can serve an area of roughly 175 square miles. Customers in eligible locations can select drone delivery through the regular Amazon shopping experience, with the option appearing during shopping and checkout. Amazon says most drone orders currently arrive within about an hour, although deliveries can be completed in as little as 30 minutes.

Safety at the Center of the Technology

Safety remains a central issue as Amazon scales the technology. Prime Air operates under the Federal Aviation Administration’s Part 135 certification framework. Its drones use cameras, sensors and an automated Detect-and-Avoid system to monitor their surroundings, navigate obstacles and make decisions during flight. Amazon says the drones can also check the delivery area for people, pets and vehicles before releasing a package.

The expansion comes more than a decade after Amazon founder Jeff Bezos first unveiled the company’s drone delivery vision in 2013. The technology has taken considerably longer to reach large-scale deployment than initially predicted, but Amazon now appears to be moving toward making drone delivery a mainstream part of its logistics network.

Amazon says it has already completed hundreds of thousands of drone deliveries in 2026, with thousands of packages being delivered each day. If the planned expansion succeeds, Prime Air could mark a significant shift in how Americans receive small, time-sensitive purchases, moving some deliveries from roads and delivery vans into the skies.