By Philip Butterworth-Hayes

Just a few days before the launch of one of the European Union’s (EU) first operational European U-space areas – at San Salvo in Italy, which launched in January 1, 2026 – the main drone operator within the area, Amazon, reported it would be ceasing its drone delivery plans in Italy.

In a statement to Reuters, Amazon said: “Following a strategic review, we have decided to stop our commercial drone delivery plans in Italy…Despite positive engagement and progress with Italian aerospace regulators, the broader business regulatory framework in the country does not, at this time, support our longer-term objectives for this programme.”

The announcement came as surprise to the National Civil Aviation Authority of Italy (ENAC), the body responsible for implementing U-space in San Salvo. Again, according to Reuters “ENAC called the decision unexpected, saying in a statement on Saturday the move was motivated by company policy, linked to “recent financial events involving the Group”.

This is yet another blow to the European Union’s U-space programme which has been fraught with delays and uncertainties over the last few years.

So what went wrong?

The San Salvo U-space area has been under development since October 2024, a joint collaboration between ENAC (the regulator), D-Flight (the U-space service provider) and ENAV (the air navigation service provider). Amazon Prime Air’s first drone delivery trials started in San Salvo back in December 2024 and the partners have been working on close collaboration on business and technical issues for many months.

“There are a number of factors which could have impacted the decision by Amazon not to go ahead,” said one U-space expert with knowledge of the issues. “The size and scale of Amazon’s delivery network development plans might not suit the European market in a way in which it works elsewhere.”

For this is not the only cut-back Amazon has made to its European drone delivery plans. In November 2025 Amazon announced it would be reducing its UK planned drone delivery flights in Darlington by over 50% (from 21 to 10 per hour) after the local authority granted only temporary planning permission for its facility, forcing the company to scale back initial operations while awaiting full approval from the regulator.

And the way in which U-space operations are being implemented in Italy, with a virtually monopolistic solution, is not in the spirit of regulation 664 which encourages the development of an open system that offers competition and choice to drone operators, said the U-space expert.

Europe is taking very different approaches to implementing U-space – with some countries preferring national air navigation service providers (ANSPs) to take responsibility for providing both Common Information Service Provider (CISP), and (via ANSP devolved companies) U-Space Service Provider (USSP) services. Others, such as Switzerland, are prioritising the development of competitive USSP service provision between independent organisations, sharing safety critical data via open-source industry standards.

But Amazon’s decision not to proceed with its drone delivery plans in Italy will put the spotlight, again, firmly on the commercial implications of U-space adoption, for both drone operators and USSPs. The next few months will be critical to understanding how U-space adoption can really act as a catalyst to accelerating beyond visual line of sight drone services – if the vacuum left by Amazon’s retreat is quickly filled by new drone operators, for example – and as other U-space areas become operational, supported by both monopolistic and decentralised U-space architectures.

ENAC and Amazon have both been asked for a comment. We shall update this story as comments are received.

For more information

https://www.aviontourism.com/en/useful-information/useful-info/authority/enac-launches-the-first-european-u-space-82289

https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/amazon-halts-plans-drone-delivery-italy-2025-12-28/

(Image: Amazon)