Amazon.com Inc. today announced plans to expand the availability of its Prime Air drone delivery service significantly.

The company currently offers aerial deliveries in cities across Arizona, Florida, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Nebraska and Texas. It will bring Prime Air to metropolitan areas in Georgia, Ohio, Illinois, Idaho and New York by year’s end. Amazon says the expansion will grow the number of municipalities where the service is available sixfold to nearly 500.

Customers can use Prime Air to order items that weigh up to five pounds and can fit in a large shoebox. According to Amazon, that category encompasses more than 60% of the most popular goods on its e-commerce platform. Most orders arrive in about an hour, with the fastest trips taking 30 minutes to complete.

Prime Air transports packages using a drone called the MK30 that Amazon debuted in 2022. The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration greenlit the aircraft for commercial flights two years later. The MK30 stands about five feet tall, has a 5.5-foot wingspan and features electric rotors that enable it to cover up to 74 miles per hour.

The drone flies to users’ homes from the nearest Amazon warehouse at an altitude of up to 250 feet. The company says that the MK30’s flight generates about as much noise as a low-power window fan. After it reaches its destination, the drone descends to an altitude of 14 feet, drops off its package and returns to the warehouse.

The MK30 uses cameras, lidar units and other sensors to avoid collisions. The sensor suite is optimized to withstand challenging conditions such as light rain and elevated dust levels. Data from the sensors is turned into navigation decisions by onboard artificial intelligence software.

According to Amazon, the MK30 includes a module that monitors its main flight control algorithm for issues. If an anomaly is detected, the monitoring module activates a backup flight controller that flies the drone back to the warehouse from which it took off.

Amazon’s push to expand Prime Air in the U.S. comes a few months after it inaugurated its first international drone delivery hub. The company equipped a 465,000-square-foot fulfillment center in Darlington, U.K., with the infrastructure necessary for aerial deliveries. Prime Air is available within a 7.5-mile radius of the facility.

Prime Air is free for Prime members who order parcels worth at least $50. Pricing for packages below that threshold is $2.99 for Prime members and $4.99 without a subscription.

Prime Air faces competition from Wing Aviation LLC, which completed its millionth commercial drone delivery earlier this year. In June, the Alphabet Inc. unit announced plans to bring its service to more than 270 Walmart Inc. locations by year’s end.

Photo: Amazon