Amazon Plans Drone Delivery Service in Darlington, UK

Tue 28th Jan, 2025

Amazon is set to launch its drone delivery service in Darlington, England, as part of its efforts to expand operations in the UK. The company has announced plans to construct a flight operations facility at its fulfillment center in the region. However, necessary permits for both the construction and operation of the facility have yet to be secured.

The application for the flight operations facility will be submitted to local authorities in County Durham promptly. Concurrently, Amazon aims to obtain approval from the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to facilitate drone flights in the airspace. Once both permissions are granted, Amazon Prime Air intends to start hiring staff to enable test flights and begin product deliveries.

Amazon is committed to collaborating closely with the CAA to establish a regulatory framework that will allow commercial drone deliveries in the UK. The company also plans to engage with the Darlington community to address any questions or concerns regarding the project ahead of the drone delivery operations. Furthermore, Amazon seeks to gather feedback from local residents to alleviate potential worries.

While Amazon has not specified a timeline for launching the delivery service, it had initially aimed to start the drone operations in the UK and Italy by the end of 2024. The service has already commenced successfully in Italy, where the first test flights took place in December 2024.

The MK30 drones, which are designed for this service, have already been tested in select locations across the United States. However, their operations in Arizona and Texas were temporarily halted following incidents that involved drone crashes due to adverse weather conditions. Amazon is currently updating the drones and is working with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to ensure they can resume flights safely.

According to Amazon, thousands of packages have already been delivered using drones to customers in the United States. Customers can place orders through the Amazon app or website, and packages weighing up to 2.3 kg are delivered within 60 minutes in the vicinity of the fulfillment center.


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