Amazon has decided to suspend its plans to launch commercial drone deliveries in Italy, marking a significant setback for the company’s ambitious Prime Air initiative in Europe.
The U.S. e-commerce giant announced on Sunday that it would no longer pursue commercial drone deliveries in Italy after conducting a strategic review. While Amazon said it had made “positive engagement and progress” with Italian aerospace regulators, the company cited broader regulatory and business factors that made the project unsustainable in the long term.
“Following a strategic review, we have decided to stop our commercial drone delivery plans in Italy,” Amazon said in a statement to Reuters. “Despite positive engagement and progress with Italian aerospace regulators, the broader business regulatory framework in the country does not, at this time, support our longer-term objectives for this program.”
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Italy’s civil aviation authority, ENAC, expressed surprise at the decision. In a statement released on Saturday, the regulator described Amazon’s move as unexpected, noting that it appeared to stem from internal company policy rather than aviation safety concerns. ENAC linked the decision to “recent financial events involving the Group,” suggesting that broader strategic or budgetary considerations influenced the suspension.
Amazon had successfully conducted initial drone delivery tests in December 2024 in San Salvo, a town in central Abruzzo. These tests were part of the Prime Air program, which aims to leverage autonomous drones for lightweight package deliveries within minutes of ordering. Italy had been considered a potential European hub for scaling up such operations, following limited trials in the United States and the United Kingdom.
The decision underscores the broader challenges facing drone delivery across Europe. Even where aviation authorities are increasingly open to testing unmanned aerial vehicles, commercial deployment faces hurdles including labor laws, data protection rules, local zoning regulations, and overall business viability. Amazon’s decision to halt its drone delivery plan in Italy indicates that regulatory approval alone may not be sufficient to bring cutting-edge logistics technologies to market.
Amazon’s move comes amid a period of reassessment of capital-intensive projects, as the company prioritizes profitability and operational efficiency following a post-pandemic e-commerce slowdown. While Amazon did not elaborate on the “recent financial events” mentioned by ENAC, analysts suggest the decision reflects a strategic recalibration of investments in experimental technologies amid cost pressures.
Despite the setback, the e-commerce giant remains committed to drone delivery in other markets where regulatory and business conditions are more favorable. The Italian experience highlights a crucial issue for tech-driven logistics: achieving operational scale requires alignment not only with regulators but also with broader market frameworks, including fiscal policies, infrastructure readiness, and commercial viability.
The suspension is also seen as a warning to European policymakers and technology companies alike that, besides a complex mosaic of local businesses, ambitious innovations like drone delivery must navigate technical hurdles to succeed.
