US online retail giant Amazon has announced it will halt its planned rollout of commercial drone deliveries in Italy, blaming wider regulatory and business conditions for the decision. The move marks a sudden pause in one of the company’s most high-profile logistics innovations.
In a statement to Reuters, Amazon said that after a strategic review, it had decided to stop its commercial drone delivery plans in Italy. The company noted it had made “positive engagement and progress with Italian aerospace regulators,” but added that “the broader business regulatory framework in the country does not, at this time, support our longer-term objectives for this programme.”
The decision comes less than a year after Amazon announced successful drone delivery tests in Italy. In December 2024, the company completed its first deliveries using the MK-30 drone near its logistics hub in San Salvo, in the central Abruzzo region. The test flights, authorised by Italian aviation authorities, were seen as a key step toward launching commercial operations in 2025.
However, Amazon’s broader plan to make Italy one of the first European markets for Prime Air — its autonomous drone delivery service — is off the shelf. The MK-30 drone platform, which can carry small parcels of up to around 2.27 kg and relies on advanced sensors and autonomous navigation, was central to those plans.
Italy’s civil aviation authority, ENAC, described Amazon’s move as “unexpected”, suggesting that it stemmed more from internal corporate decisions than from perfect alignment with regulatory authorities. In its statement, ENAC linked the shift in Amazon’s approach to “recent financial events involving the Group,” a likely reference to broader pressures affecting the company’s strategic priorities.
Are European regulations too tight?
The broader regulatory framework in Italy extends beyond aerospace certification. Implementing a nationwide drone delivery service would require complex integration with local airspace management, safety protocols, and liability frameworks. Critics have previously noted that European airspace regulations, particularly those governing unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) and Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) operations, present significant challenges for large-scale commercial drone services.
Despite the setback, Amazon continues to pursue drone delivery innovations elsewhere. Its Prime Air project remains active in the United States, where limited commercial operations operate under Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) approval, and trials in the United Kingdom and other markets are ongoing.
For Italy, the development pauses what was seen as a potentially leading role in European aerial logistics. Partnerships between industry and Italian regulators had positioned the country as a testing ground for drone delivery ecosystems. Observers may now watch how ENAC’s regulatory frameworks — including U-Space airspace corridors, set to become operational in early 2026 — evolve in response to broader industry demand and safety considerations.
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