The dream of Amazon drone deliveries stops before it even takes off in our country. The e-commerce giant has officially communicated to ENAC, the body that monitors the safety of Italian skies, that it is renouncing the Prime Air project, freezing an experiment that should have transformed Italy into one of the European logistics laboratories of the future. The news came like a bolt from the blue: for Enac it is a completely “pending”, especially considering the long technical and regulatory comparison work carried out in recent years.
The heart of the project was San Salvo, in Abruzzo, the area chosen for the first operational tests. Here Amazon had begun experimenting with drone flights intended for the delivery of light packages, up to 2.5 kilos, within a radius of 12 kilometers from the starting point. The goal was to start the first commercial deliveries in spring 2026, marking a symbolic step towards a new distribution model. Now, however, everything is suspended: no experimentation, no commercial phase, at least for the Italian market.
The official and unofficial reasons
In the statement released by ENAC, Amazon attributes the choice to “company policies” and the recent financial events involving the group. A reference which, according to many observers, refers directly to the tax dispute with the Italian State. In fact, just a few weeks ago, Amazon closed a long dispute with the Revenue Agency, agreeing to pay over 500 million euros to remedy alleged irregularities linked to the payment of VAT. An agreement that avoided much heavier sanctions, but which seems to have had an impact on the group’s strategic priorities in our country.
Amazon, for its part, speaks of a “strategic review” and underlines how Italy, at the moment, does not offer the adequate conditions to support Prime Air’s long-term objectives. The project, in fact, is not abandoned completely: experiments continue in the United States and the United Kingdom, markets considered more mature from a regulatory, economic and infrastructural point of view.
Drones yes or drones no? Doubts remain
Beyond the Italian case, Amazon’s step backwards reignites the debate on the actual sustainability of drone deliveries. The critical issues are not only technological, linked to safety, precision and management of urban spaces, but also economic. Traditional vehicles such as vans or cargo bikes often remain more efficient, capable of transporting many packages in a single journey. The future of air logistics remains fascinating, but for now, in Italy, it remains on the ground.
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