Amazon is taking to the skies.
The Federal Aviation Administration has issued the e-tailer what’s called a Part 135 Air Carrier Certificate for unmanned aircraft systems, bringing Amazon one step closer to its dream of 30-minute delivery with drones.
The process included submitting information about safety protocols, operating and training rules, and Amazon’s drone technology. The company now will work on testing and scaling up.
“This certification is an important step forward for Prime Air and indicates the FAA’s confidence in Amazon’s operating and safety procedures for an autonomous drone delivery service that will one day deliver packages to our customers around the world,” David Carbon, vice president of Prime Air, said in a written statement.
Amazon Prime Air aims to deliver packages up to five pounds or fewer. The Seattle-based e-commerce company first started considering drones as a delivery device in 2013.
Prime Air’s first delivery, fully autonomous with no human pilot, was in December 2016, according to the Amazon Prime Air website. From click to delivery took 13 minutes.
The companies that secured this FAA approval for commercial delivery over long distances before Amazon are UPS Flight Forward and Alphabet subsidiary Wing.
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