Amazon cancels drone project, first warning to Italy

ROMA – Relations between Amazon and Italy are at an all-time low. Fifteen days ago the US e-commerce giant he warned that he would invest less in our country. Now – two weeks later – Amazon is throwing overboard the first of the projects it had underway here. Amazon gives up plans to deliver packages from the sky via its drones. The service would start in March 2026.

Enac, guarantor of safety in our skies, explains that Amazon is no longer interested in the certification necessary to take off drones (MK30 model) because it transfers the entire project elsewhere. Perhaps in another EU country; perhaps in the UK, where deliveries are already tested in the city of Darlington. For Enac, Amazon’s decision – unexpected – “is a consequence of recent financial events”.

Enac’s words refer to the painful agreement that Amazon signed with our Revenue Agency in mid-December. After the investigation by the Milan Prosecutor’s Office into possible VAT evasionthe US company agreed to pay 511 million euros to settle the tax dispute. To this figure, we must add the 212 million that Amazon paid to remedy the situation of two other Italian companies, its subsidiaries.

The millionaire outlay

Despite a total outlay of 723 millionAmazon didn’t come out of it, on the contrary. Milanese prosecutors will continue their investigations to ascertain any criminal responsibility. The US giant is even suspected of having “smuggled” Chinese goods.

This is when Amazon issued its warning, in mid-December: «Unpredictable regulatory contexts, disproportionate sanctions and prolonged legal proceedings impact Italy’s attractiveness as an investment destination.” After having mobilized 25 billion in our country and hired 19,000 people, Amazon alludes to a slowdown, which is starting to show in these hours.

The drone project took its first steps 26 months ago, in October 2023, when Amazon expressed to ENAC its desire to deliver packages also from the skies. A year later, Amazon makes the first experimental flight of its MK30 drone (weight 35.4 kilograms) capable of landing and taking off vertically while carrying packages weighing up to 2.3 kilos. The idea is to deliver parcels, in an initial experimental phase, within a 12 kilometer radius of the San Salvo logistics center in Abruzzo.

“The broader context”

The drones are programmed to fly up to 168 times in 8 hours. Resistant to light rain, with double the autonomy of the previous model, the flying device incorporates intelligent viewers and algorithmic programs designed to avoid collisions with objects, animals and above all people.

«Everything was ready to start in spring 2026», explains Pierluigi Di Palma, president of Enac, «then came Amazon’s resignation which, I fear, is only the first of many others». In a note, the American company cites “the broader context in which we operate in Italy” as the trigger for the decision not to fly anymore.