Amazon Prime Air leaves Italy

A short history of the decade-long journey of Amazon’s drone-delivery ambitions — and why the Italian program collapsed just days ago.

Foreword

The views expressed in this article are my own and do not necessarily reflect the official positions of ENAC or any other organizations mentioned. The aim is to provide a critical and well‑informed analysis based on in‑depth research within industry.

Introduction

For more than a decade, Amazon Prime Air represented one of the most ambitious technological bets in modern logistics: the promise that autonomous drones could reinvent last-mile delivery, slashing congestion, emissions, and delivery times across Europe and the United States. It was a bold, futuristic vision — one that stood symbolically at the crossroads of aviation, robotics, e-commerce, and regulation.

Italy, a country with a vibrant aerospace sector, advanced UAS (Unmanned Aircraft Systems) industrial ecosystem, and one of Europe’s earliest regulators to implement harmonized EU drone rules, was intended to be among Amazon’s flagship European testbeds. The central regions of Emilia-Romagna, Lombardy, and Piedmont were evaluated for operations and a internal documents hinted at a large-scale rollout beginning in 2026.

But a few days ago, news broke: Amazon is shutting down its drone delivery program in Italy entirely.

The decision shocked aviation insiders, policymakers, and e-commerce specialists alike. What had once been marketed as the future of ultrafast delivery — complete with sleek prototypes and inspiring promotional videos — had come to an abrupt halt.

To understand why, we must look back at the full history of Prime Air, from its meteoric rise to its operational struggles, European regulatory friction, the promise of technological breakthroughs, and finally, the Italian shutdown that marked one of the most symbolic failures in Amazon's innovation portfolio.

This article reconstructs that story in full.

1. How It All Began: The Prime Air Vision (2013-2016)

The origins of Amazon Prime Air date back to December 1, 2013, when Jeff Bezos unveiled the concept during an interview on the CBS program 60 Minutes. The world watched, fascinated, as Amazon released early footage of a multi-rotor drone lifting off from an undisclosed facility and flying autonomously to deliver a small package to a suburban home.

Bezos declared that within “four to five years,” autonomous drones could routinely deliver packages weighing up to 5 pounds (around 2.3 kg), which represented nearly 80% of Amazon’s catalog at the time.

The First Milestones (2013-2016): A Timeline

By 2016, Amazon had constructed a sophisticated technological foundation consisting of:

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  Autonomous navigation algorithms
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  Redundant flight-control systems
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  Advanced obstacle-avoidance sensors
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  Geo-fencing modules aligned to European and American aviation rules

The company positioned Prime Air not just as a delivery service but as a new pillar of Amazon’s identity — the same way Prime, AWS, and Amazon Marketplace had defined earlier eras of innovation.

The dream was alive, and Italy would soon appear on Amazon’s radar.

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2. Expansion, Regulatory Battles, and the First Cracks (2017-2020)

While technological progress remained strong, Amazon began to face an unexpected reality: advanced drone operations were not primarily an engineering problem — they were a regulatory one.

Why Europe — and Italy — Became Central

With the forthcoming EU UAS Regulation Package 2019/947 and 2019/945, Europe became the first region in the world to introduce a harmonized regulatory framework for drones:

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  Common rules for all Member States
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  Clear operational categories (Open, Specific, Certified)
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  Standardized risk-assessment procedures (SORA)

Italy, through ENAC (Ente Nazionale per l'Aviazione Civile, the local civil aviation authority), was heavily involved in the regulatory committees and quickly aligned national rules with the European framework.

This made Italy strategically attractive for Amazon:

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  Large metropolitan areas ideal for pilot projects
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  Strong industrial partners (Leonardo, Telespazio, Thales Alenia Space)
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  Growing U-space initiatives in Lombardy and Veneto
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  A culture increasingly open to urban-air-mobility solutions

Amazon’s Global Expansion Timeline (2017-2020)

The global momentum seemed unstoppable. Italy expected to be included in the first wave of European deployments.

Yet, behind the scenes, the picture was more turbulent.

Internal Problems Begin to Surface

By 2020, employees began reporting:

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  High turnover in engineering teams
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  Frequent redesigns of flight software
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  Conflicts between safety engineers and leadership timelines
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  Overly optimistic public commitments

Amazon’s culture of rapid iteration clashed with the slower, risk-averse culture of aviation certification.
This tension would haunt the company for years — including in Italy.

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3. The MK30 Era and European Integration (2021-2023)

In November 2022, Amazon announced a next-generation aircraft: the MK30, a sleeker, lighter drone with improved range, reduced noise, and better environmental performance.

Meanwhile, the EU began laying the groundwork for U-space, a digital traffic-management system for drones that Italy embraced enthusiastically.

Key European and Italian UAS Milestones

This environment made Italy a prime candidate for Prime Air’s expansion.

Amazon’s Italian Ambitions (Reconstructed Timeline)

While Amazon never publicly disclosed every detail, interviews with industry executives and leaked internal presentations indicate:

Everything seemed to point toward Italy becoming one of Europe’s most important Prime Air deployments.

But the cracks that had formed earlier were widening.

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4. Structural Problems Intensify (2023-2025)

Despite promising pilot operations in the U.S. and limited tests in the U.K., Amazon struggled to achieve scalable, economically viable drone deliveries.

Technical Challenges

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  Limited battery efficiency
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  Noise and environmental constraints
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  Difficulty integrating operations into dense European urban spaces
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  Failures in sense-and-avoid certification
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  Weather sensitivity (rain, wind, and fog all affected Italian operations)

Regulatory Challenges

Even with U-space, Italy still required:

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  SORA risk assessments
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  Ground-risk mitigations
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  Flight-area containment
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  Community-acceptance studies

Amazon repeatedly underestimated the complexity and duration of these processes.

Economic Challenges

Drone delivery turned out to be:

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  More expensive than van or bike couriers
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  Dependent on expensive infrastructure
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  Operationally fragile
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  Dependent on extremely high automation levels

By mid-2025, Amazon executives reportedly questioned whether Prime Air could ever achieve profitability in Europe.

San Salvo: The Lost Hope

For months, Amazon’s logistics hub in San Salvo, Abruzzo, had been portrayed as one of the most promising European outposts for last-mile drone delivery - a potential flagship launchpad for Prime Air on the continent. Yet, despite the intense anticipation, the drones of the Seattle giant will never take off from its warehouses.

Alongside the operational shutdown, Amazon has formally withdrawn its request for the Light UAS Operator Certificate (LUC), a crucial regulatory credential that would have allowed the company to autonomously conduct complex missions without seeking individual authorizations each time.

According to statements from ENAC, the National Civil Aviation Authority, the decision was not the result of any friction with the Italian regulatory ecosystem. On the contrary, Amazon reportedly expressed "undisputed appreciation" for the collaboration carried out with Italian authorities.

The choice to relocate both the commercial launch and the certification process to another EU member state is attributed instead to new corporate policies and the financial headwinds that have pushed Amazon toward a far-reaching reassessment of its global investments.

Yet the end of Prime Air in Abruzzo does not bring Italian innovation to a halt. On January 1, 2026, the region will inaugurate U-Space San Salvo, the first fully operational U-space hub in Europe.

Far from being a simple restricted zone, U-space represents a digitally managed segment of airspace enabling full integration between manned and unmanned flight operations. This environment will serve as a testbed for advanced research and development, emergency operations requiring secure aerial corridors, and high-safety territorial monitoring missions.

The project reflects a robust collaboration between D-Flight, ENAV, and 35 regional stakeholders, signaling Italy’s determination to build one of the most advanced regulatory and technological infrastructures in Europe. But despite the enthusiasm surrounding this milestone, the absence of what was meant to be its principal “anchor tenant” casts a long shadow over the landscape — a reminder of the uncertainty still surrounding drone-delivery ecosystems in Europe.

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5. December 2025: Amazon Abruptly Cancels Prime Air Italy

A few days ago, news spread across industry channels:
Amazon is shutting down Prime Air operations and development plans in Italy.

ENAC did not hesitate to issue a press release confirming the news with issue 68/2025:
Enac da gennaio 2026 lancia il primo U-Space europeo nonostante la sospensione del progetto Amazon Prime Air in Italia

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6. Why Amazon Prime Air Failed in Italy

After interviews with regulators, engineers, and industry observers, several themes emerge.

6.1. Italy’s Complex Urban Landscape

Unlike the U.S., Italian metropolitan areas:

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  Have narrow historical streets
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  Possess dense, irregular building layouts
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  Include restrictive no-fly zones around heritage sites
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  Are subject to strict local noise and environmental ordinances

These made risk-assessment (SORA) analyses extraordinarily difficult.

6.2. Slow and Conservative Certification Pathways

Despite being aligned with EASA frameworks, Italy (like most EU countries) demands extremely robust safety evidence.
Amazon failed to achieve:

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  Reliable detect-and-avoid certification
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  Compliance with U-space service-provider standards
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  Stable integration with existing aviation traffic

6.3. Financial Sustainability

Drone delivery was far from cost-effective in Europe:

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  High training and operational costs
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  Expensive infrastructure
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  Limited payload versatility
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  Weather-related service unreliability

Even at scale, the business case wasn’t competitive with ground logistics.

6.4. Cultural Resistance

European citizens tend to be:

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  More privacy-conscious
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  More skeptical about low-flying autonomous drones
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  More sensitive to environmental and noise issues

Public-acceptance studies in Italy revealed consistent resistance.

6.5. Internal Amazon Issues

Prime Air suffered from:

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  Frequent reorganizations
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  Dissatisfaction among engineers
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  Unrealistic executive timelines
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  High operational overhead

Italy became one of the first major victims of this internal instability.

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7. What the Italian Shutdown Means for Amazon—and for Europe

The cancellation in Italy is not just a local event; it is symbolically powerful:

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  It represents Amazon withdrawing from a strategically chosen European market.
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  It signals that drone delivery may not scale in dense urban regions.
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  It opens the door for European competitors, including medical-delivery startups.
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  It raises questions about the long-term viability of drone logistics.

Italy, once seen as an anchor market, has become the canary in the coal mine.

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8. Will Drone Delivery Ever Work in Europe?

Despite Amazon’s retreat, Europe continues to:

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  Invest heavily in U-space
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  Support medical drone delivery corridors
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  Encourage BVLOS operations
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  Develop domestic manufacturers

Countries like France, Switzerland, and the Netherlands still see immense potential — especially for industrial, emergency, and medical applications.

But Amazon’s failure illustrates a crucial truth:

Drone delivery is far more suited to low-density regions than to historical European cities.

This realization changes the strategic landscape entirely.

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Conclusion: The End of an Era?

Amazon Prime Air was born as a daring, even romantic vision: the idea that thousands of small autonomous aircraft buzzing across the sky could reinvent commerce.

In reality, the project proved to be:

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  Technically brilliant
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  Ambitiously visionary
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  Economically fragile
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  Operationally complex
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  Deeply mismatched with European regulatory and cultural realities

Italy’s shutdown is a milestone — not just for Amazon, but for the entire drone industry.

It marks the end of the first major chapter in the history of drone delivery, and the beginning of a more sober, realistic era in which regulators, innovators, and citizens must rethink what the future of aerial logistics truly looks like.