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For the residents of some of Scotland’s Orkney Islands, one of the UK’s most remote areas, receiving mail is a logistical feat. In the past two years, newcomers have joined Royal Mail’s fleet of distinctive red vans and lorries on the archipelago: aerial drones.
In partnership with Royal Mail, Skyports has operated a delivery service between Stromness and smaller islands Graemsay and Hoy since April 2023, with several flights a day.
And soon, Skyports and Royal Mail will have a new rival, albeit further south on the UK mainland. Amazon, the US tech group, recently announced plans to launch a drone delivery service in the northern English town of Darlington, adding to its existing services in College Station, Texas, and Tolleson, Arizona.
Unlike existing UK drone delivery services — as well as the Orkney operation, a hospital trust in south London uses uncrewed aerial vehicles to transport blood samples in partnership with Apian and Alphabet’s Wing — Prime Air will deliver directly to customers’ homes in Darlington, which was selected because Amazon has a fulfilment centre on the edge of town.
Under the plans, eligible customers would be able to choose drone delivery as an option alongside same-day delivery, explains Amazon spokesperson Av Zammit. At launch, delivery time will be up to 2 hours, though the company hopes to get this down to under 30 minutes. “It’s all about speed”, he adds.
By the end of 2029, Amazon wants to be delivering 500mn packages a year worldwide by drone, he says — one-tenth of the total number of packages it delivered by same- or next- day delivery last year.
But Amazon’s plans come with a unique set of challenges, both regulatory and technological.
Before Prime Air’s drone deliveries can begin, the plans are subject to approval by the UK Civil Aviation Authority as well as the local authority, with planning permission required for the construction of launch pads.
The CAA needs to approve a new airspace to allow flights “beyond the visual line of sight” and assess the safety of the plans. The process should take about 9 months, if all goes smoothly, according to a CAA spokesperson.
Amazon is also conducting trials in the US, although it paused them earlier this year so that it could make improvements to its fleet.
But Graham Brown, head of UK drone trade association ARPAS-UK, says the technology is advancing at such a rate that drones will soon be able to operate in all weather conditions, while battery life will improve and their weight is reduced. He believes that drones are “on a similar trajectory to old mobile phones”.
Initially, products delivered by Amazon’s MK30 drones will have to be smaller than a shoebox, and lighter than 2.3kg. But Zammit says that covers almost all of the items that customers want quickly, including electronics, medication and cooking ingredients.
One further difficulty is the delivery point itself. Prime Air is planning to put the drone into a hover around 4m above the ground and check for obstacles with sensors before dropping the parcel, which will be protected by special “trampoline” packaging.
This method is more efficient than previous trials — where customers had to put out a steel sheet with a QR code to act as a drop point. But it does not work for blocks of flats, Zammit acknowledges, adding that Amazon is working on a solution.
Despite logistical barriers, the successful implementation of drone deliveries at scale is a matter of “when, not if,” says ARPAS-UK’s Brown, with Amazon’s plans bringing important regulatory progress.
Alex Brown, head of Skyports’ drone services, expects Amazon’s first UK drone deliveries to happen before the end of the year, at least on a temporary basis.
Drone delivery services such as Prime Air have the potential to revolutionise some supply chains, particularly in remote areas or for the delivery of urgent medical supplies, and improve their sustainability, says Ellis Shelton, senior policy adviser at Logistics UK, by moving goods “in the most productive, strategic and green way”.
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The mail delivery service on the Orkney Islands, for example, has cut the delivery time to some residents by 24 hours, says Skyports’ Brown. His company has also transported goods to oil rigs in the North Sea and vaccines to villages in the Congo.
Ultimately, however, the use of drones “is likely to be relatively limited in nature”, Shelton cautions. They “cannot replace the role played by lorries, vans, trains and ships, given the huge quantities of goods and materials that the overall logistics system moves around, and in and out of the country, every day.”
Skyports’ Brown agrees, describing drones as “a supplement to supply chains, not a complete replacement”. Drones are “only better to the extent that they are cheaper, faster, more sustainable, safer”, he adds. “If you can’t tick those boxes, don’t use a drone.”
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