Amazon is expanding its Prime Air drone delivery service, aiming to deliver smaller, lightweight packages to suburban areas in nearly 500 U.S. cities. The company announced plans to broaden these airborne shipping operations by the end of the year, with a long-term goal to reach nearly 500 cities by the end of 2026.
This expansion includes launching services in several metro areas, including Chicago, Atlanta, Cleveland, Boise, Idaho, and Syracuse, N.Y. Amazon also plans to bring drone delivery to cities in at least five additional U.S. states in the coming months.
The move represents the latest effort to transition a decade-old research-and-development project into a full commercial service. Amazon has recently expanded into more metro areas after receiving a key regulatory greenlight that enables longer-range deliveries.