FAA Approves New Delivery Drone Of Amazon - The MK30

Amazon said it received approval from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for its new delivery drone MK30 to begin operations to customers.

"Our approval includes the ability to fly Beyond Visual Line of Sight, using our sophisticated on-board detect and avoid system," Amazon said in a statement.

The approval allows Amazon, which started drone delivery in 2022, to start drone delivery in the West Valley of the Phoenix Metro Area in Arizona.

The MK30 flies twice as far as its previous drones, is about 50% quieter to the human ear, and is built to fly in rainy weather.

"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."

One can recall that the plan to use drones for deliveries was initially unveiled by Jeff Bezos more than a decade ago. Millions were invested by the e-commerce giant on the proposed deliveries but progress on its actual implementation became slow since Prime Air, the program that would run the drone delivery service, encountered a number of regulatory hurdles, layoffs and missed deadlines, NBC News reported.

Aside from the issues, it also suffered the loss of some executives, which further hampered a much earlier implementation. Thereafter, the company hired David Carbon to run the program.

Aside from the issues in the administrative level, the program also encountered some complaints from the residents of the area where drone deliveries were launched.

College Station, TX, residents complained of bothersome noise levels, which led the mayor to express such concerns to the FAA in a letter, according to CNBC. Last year, Amazon began delivering prescription medications in partnership with Amazon Pharmacy to customers in College Station, Texas.

In response, the company told residents that by October 2025, it would be identifying a new drone delivery launch site.

Fast-forward to 2024 and Amazon is now ready to bolster its drone delivery service with the approval of the MK30, which is more quiet and smaller. The FAA allowed the drone to cover longer distances and make deliveries in areas that are no longer within the line of sight of pilots. A spokesperson from the FAA said that it gave its approval on such kind of deliveries in Tollesen, Phoenix on Oct. 31.

Matt McCardle, Prime Air's head of regulatory affairs said that deliveries using the new model could start by Tuesday, particularly in areas near Phoenix, Arizona.

The company also noted in April that it would be gearing up on the implementation of the program in Tolleson after it shut down operations in Lockeford, California, The Verge reported. Amazon will be integrating drone deliveries into its vast logistics network in the hopes of making future deliveries faster.

Aside from Amazon, other e-commerce and retail stores are also slowly incorporating drone delivery services into their logistics. This includes Wing, which is owned by Alphabet, the parent company of Google, Walmart and UPS.