Amazon Is Bringing Same-Day Drone Delivery To Arizona

For the average online shopper, Amazon is the go-to e-commerce site.

From beauty products to specialized hardware, from food products to car accessories, this e-commerce platform stocks pretty much everything under the sun.

The platform delivers orders in record time, becoming famous for its same-day deliveries for its Prime plan users. It also offers complete fulfillment services, where Amazon picks up your orders scheduled for return/replacement.

As a technology leader, Amazon is at the forefront of innovation and experimentation.

Since 2022, the company has been leveraging drone deliveries for thousands of products to customers, beating its famed same-day delivery promise by offering same-hour delivery.

Ahead of this, it introduced the same delivery model for prescription medications through Amazon Pharmacy. However, this was restricted to customers in College Station, Texas.

Earlier in the year, Amazon announced that it had hit record Prime delivery speeds ever, not just in the United States but globally, with over 5 billion items arriving the same or the next day.

Amazon’s Drone Delivery In Phoenix, Arizona

Now, Amazon is bringing drone deliveries through its Prime Air initiative to the West Valley of the Phoenix Metro Area in Arizona.

The service will be fulfilled through the company’s Same-Day delivery site in Tolleson, Arizona. Customers who purchase eligible items weighing 5 pounds or less can also have their orders delivered within the hour.

Amazon’s Tolleson site serves as a hybrid solution—part fulfillment center, part delivery station—enabling the company to fulfill, sort, and deliver products from one site.

The approval opens the door for customers to access over 50,000 everyday essentials, such as household products, beauty items, office supplies, technology products and more, bringing the company’s largest selection of items ever to be available for fast drone delivery at a service fee.

“Our current small format drone fulfillment centers allow us to pick, pack, and deliver products to customers in less than 60 minutes with minimal complexity,” said David Carbon, VP of Prime Air, earlier in the year. “Our integration into the Same-Day network will allow us to bring ultra-fast delivery to even more customers and increases selection by 10X.”

All About Amazon’s New MK30 Drone

The announcement comes as Amazon revealed that its new MK30 drone received FAA approval (Federal Aviation Administration), which includes being able to fly Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS).

This means that it will be able to fly its drone beyond the visual range of the operator.

According to the company’s release, the approval is a historic and first-of-its-kind approval for a new drone system and a new operating location post rigorous FAA evaluation.

The MK30 drone has spent over two years on the drawing board and has been designed from scratch by its engineers to include “innovative, safety-critical features that allow it to deliver packages to customers with smaller backyards and in more densely populated suburban areas.”

The MK30 drone can fly twice as far as any of its predecessors, is 50% quieter, and can fly in light rain.

As such, the MK30 drones are poised to replace the drones currently in use across the US.


This move offers even more benefits, including boosting economic growth in the region and supporting Amazon’s eco-friendly initiatives. 

“This kind of delivery is the future, and it’s exciting that it will be starting in the Phoenix Metro Area,” said Kate Gallego, mayor of Phoenix, earlier this year. “The shift toward zero-emission package delivery will help us reduce local pollution and further cement our city as a hotbed for the innovative technology of tomorrow.”

What do you think about Amazon’s drone delivery service? Do you think Amazon should adopt drone deliveries in more locations around the world?

Let us know in the comments below!