Amazon ‘on precipice’ of expanding UK drone work

Amazon is “on the precipice” of gaining approval to expand drone deliveries to the whole of Darlington as it looks to roll out the service nationally.

The US tech giant started a “limited” number of flights in February, allowing customers within a 7.5-mile radius of its railway town site to have certain items delivered by drone.

Amazon announced last January that Darlington would be its UK test centre, marking the first time Prime Air had expanded outside the US.

And after more than 500 flights and deliveries, the firm says it is now seeking approval from the Civil Aviation Authority to cover the whole town.

David Carbon, vice-president of Prime Air, said Amazon was expecting to get permission “very soon”, with the ultimate aim of expanding the service to the whole of the UK.

He said: “If you’re going to cobble a bunch of stuff together, it’s hard to get the timing right to get it all in the right place.

“So, if you’re doing a single-pointed delivery, it’s much easier to go from point to point faster.

“The other advantage is it keeps people off the road.”

In the UK, Prime Air is currently included as part of an Amazon Prime membership with no additional delivery fee, but this will be evaluated as the service expands.

Mr Carbon said the firm was “working through those details”, but added it would “not be much of an extra cost”.

An investigation was launched in July after an Amazon drone delivering a package crashed into a garden in Darlington.

The company said nobody was injured and the initial assessment was that an object extending above the roof of a moving vehicle “inadvertently came into contact with a drone during delivery”.

Want your business, product or service to be seen regionally and nationally? Bdaily helps you get your story in front of the right audience, every day. Find out how Bdaily can help →

Join more than 55,000 subscribers by signing up to our daily bulletin each morning here.