Amazon said Wednesday that it plans to expand its drone delivery service to nearly 500 U.S. cities and towns by the end of the year, marking significant progress for a project that has taken nearly 13 years to develop since founder Jeff Bezos first unveiled the vision.

The planned expansion of Prime Air would increase its current coverage by sixfold, the company said in a blog post.

Amazon said Wednesday that it has completed hundreds of thousands of drone deliveries so far this year, with the service now handling thousands of deliveries each day.

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, who stepped down as CEO five years ago, first announced plans in 2013 to use drones to deliver small packages within 30 minutes or less.

However, the Prime Air programme has faced regulatory hurdles, workforce reductions, technical challenges and resistance from some communities during its early trials.

The programme gained a major regulatory boost in 2024 when Amazon received approval to conduct long-range drone deliveries.

Over the past year, the company has expanded Prime Air beyond its initial markets to 11 metropolitan areas, with six additional locations expected to launch soon.

Amazon is seeking to turn drone delivery from a futuristic concept into a key part of its rapid-delivery strategy.

After popularising free two-day shipping, the company has expanded its services to one-day and increasingly same-day delivery, while also testing ultrafast delivery models in more U.S. locations through Amazon Now.

Most Prime Air drone deliveries are completed in about 60 minutes, although Amazon said some packages have reached customers within just a few minutes of placing an order.