Regulatory hurdles halt Amazon’s drone delivery ambitions in Italy

Anabelle Colaco
30 Dec 2025, 16:33 GMT+10

Amazon has shelved its bid to launch drone deliveries in Italy, pulling back from a pilot effort that had shown technical promise but ran up against wider regulatory constraints, the company said
The decision ends a project first unveiled last year, when Amazon completed initial delivery-drone tests in San Salvo, a town in Italy’s central Abruzzo region
At the time, the company said the trials marked progress toward bringing its Prime Air service to the country

ROME, Italy: Amazon has shelved its bid to launch drone deliveries in Italy, pulling back from a pilot effort that had shown technical promise but ran up against wider regulatory constraints, the company said.

The decision ends a project first unveiled last year, when Amazon completed initial delivery-drone tests in San Salvo, a town in Italy's central Abruzzo region. At the time, the company said the trials marked progress toward bringing its Prime Air service to the country.

Italy's civil aviation authority, ENAC, called the move unexpected. In a statement, ENAC said the halt was driven by company policy linked to "recent financial events involving the Group."

Amazon, however, emphasized broader regulatory considerations. In a statement, the company said: "Following a strategic review, we have decided to stop our commercial drone delivery plans in Italy".

The company added, "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," Amazon added.

The drone initiative was part of Amazon's broader push to experiment with faster, automated last-mile delivery options across select markets. While Italy had been seen as a potential European test bed, the company has faced varying regulatory environments across countries, complicating large-scale rollouts.