Amazon Prime Air Expands to 500 US Cities by Year-End

Amazon Prime Air, the e-commerce giant's drone delivery service, is set to expand to nearly 500 cities and towns across the United States by the end of this year. This represents a sixfold increase from its current footprint.

The expansion comes as Amazon and its competitors race to make drone delivery an everyday service. Prime Air currently operates from 11 sites spanning 10 metropolitan areas in Arizona, Florida, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Nebraska, and Texas. The company plans to launch next in the Chicago, Syracuse, Cleveland, Atlanta, and Boise metro areas.

While Amazon is counting every city and town reached by the service, rather than individual launch sites, each existing Prime Air site covers an area of roughly 175 square miles, allowing one facility to serve multiple communities. Most products weighing 5 pounds or less and fitting inside a large shoebox are eligible for drone delivery, which encompasses more than 60 percent of items customers purchase most frequently.

Amazon says those orders can arrive in as little as 30 minutes, although most take closer to an hour. Prime members receive free drone delivery on orders of at least $50 and pay $2.99 for smaller orders. Non-Prime customers pay $4.99.