Amazon will resume drone delivery services in Arizona starting Friday as two federal agencies continue to investigate crashes that occurred earlier this week.
Amazon suspended operations in West Valley (now the only commercial market) in the Phoenix Metro area after crash fell on Wednesday. Two of the company’s major air delivery drones collided with a crane boom near the site that day in Tolson, Arizona, and hit the ground.
Since November 2024, Amazon has been offering 5 pound packages weighing up to 5 pounds via Prime Air Drone Services in Phoenix’s West Valley.
Amazon spokesman Terrence Clark said the company will continue to support “continuous reviews by related agencies.” The National Transportation Safety Board and Federal Aviation Administration announced Thursday that an investigation into the conflict is ongoing.
“Safety is our number one priority and we have completed our own internal review of this incident and we are confident that there are no issues with the drones and the technology that supports them,” Clark said in an email. “Nevertheless, we are introducing additional processes such as enhanced visual landscape inspections to better monitor obstacles such as cranes.”
The program has faced several set-offs over the years, including the departure of key executives, towards its goal of using drones to provide 500 million packages per year by the end of the decade.
Amazon stopped testing of drones after an airborne crash in December 2024 involving two Oregon models. At the time, Amazon said it would suspend drone distribution, which has been withheld software updates to college stations in Texas, Arizona and drone fleets. Amazon is not operating at university stations.
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Amazon also won one or two victories, including getting approval from the US Federal Aviation Administration and getting approval to deliver longer distances. The approval removed one regulatory hurdle in May 2024, allowing Amazon to expand its major aviation services. Amazon previously said it had planned to expand its Prime Air Delivery Services to Richardson, San Antonio and Waco in Texas to expand its Prime Air Delivery Services nationwide where sites for Detroit and Kansas City are planned.
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