Amazon's Prime Air drone delivery expands to nearly 500 US cities

Amazon announced Wednesday a major expansion of Prime Air, its drone delivery service, with plans to reach nearly 500 US cities by the end of 2026. The move marks a significant milestone, expanding the service’s footprint by roughly 6x its current reach.

Prime Air will soon launch in 11 locations: Tolleson, Arizona; Ruskin, Florida; Kansas City, Kansas; Papillion, Nebraska; Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Hazel Park and Pontiac, Michigan; and Richmond, San Antonio, Richardson, and Waco, Texas. The return to Tolleson is notable given a drone accident there last year — in October 2025, two drones collided with the boom of a crane. Amazon’s drones have also previously drawn scrutiny following incidents including clipping an internet cable and crashing into a garden and an apartment building.

That history is likely why Amazon reiterated its focus on safety as part of the announcement. The company highlighted Prime Air’s “industry-leading Detect-and-Avoid system,” designed to continuously monitor the airspace and surroundings around each drone. The drones also rely on onboard cameras and sensors for navigation, obstacle detection, and delivery, and Amazon said they’re designed to operate in real-world conditions, including light rain and a range of temperatures. Prime Air operates under Federal Aviation Administration Part 135 certification, the same regulatory framework used by commercial air carriers.

“Customers already turn to Amazon for fast Same- and Next-Day Delivery, and Prime Air provides them an even speedier option when they need it, with deliveries in as fast as 30 minutes,” David Carbon, vice president of Amazon Prime Air, said in a statement, adding that the service has “already delivered hundreds of thousands of packages to customers by drone this year.”

The service currently operates across seven states — Arizona, Florida, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Nebraska, and Texas — with Amazon saying launches in Georgia, Ohio, Illinois, Idaho, and New York are also coming soon. Prime members receive free ultrafast drone delivery on eligible orders of $50 or more; for Prime members placing eligible orders under $50, the delivery fee is $2.99, while non-Prime customers pay a $4.99 delivery fee. Nearly all items 5 pounds or less can be delivered by drone.

Amazon’s push comes as other major companies build their own drone delivery networks. Walmart and Google parent Alphabet’s Wing have been expanding a competing operation the companies have described as the largest drone delivery network in the US; in June, they added seven new markets, including Phoenix, Philadelphia, and the Bay Area.

Why it matters

A roughly sixfold jump in coverage would make drone delivery a mainstream US retail option rather than a scattered pilot program, intensifying the race between Amazon and the Walmart-Wing network to lock in the infrastructure and regulatory ground for last-mile drone logistics.