Amazon may bring drone delivery to Kansas City. Here’s the plan
Drone deliveries from Amazon could be on the horizon for Kansas City residents as the retail giant pushes to begin offering a service currently available in only two smaller U.S. cities.
An Amazon spokesperson confirmed to The Star on Tuesday that the company, founded by billionaire Jeff Bezos, is considering bringing the drone delivery service to Kansas City. The service, launched in 2022 as Prime Air, uses delivery drones to fly packages to customers.
“We’re reviewing options and working with local officials to possibly bring Prime Air to Kansas City - which would support our efforts to provide fast delivery and great service to local customers,” spokesperson Andy DiOrio said in a statement.
The Star reached out to Amazon after hearing rumblings of the plans inside the Missouri Capitol. However, the company was short on specifics. DiOrio cautioned that the service was still in its early planning stages and the company would need to take additional steps.
Amazon has received permitting approval in the past two weeks from the City Plan Commission and the Board of Zoning Adjustment. If all goes to plan, Amazon is hoping to build a drone delivery center at its same-day delivery facility, located south of Missouri 150, at the corner of Botts Road and 149th Street.
The potential expansion into Kansas City comes a decade after Bezos, in an interview with 60 Minutes in 2013, unveiled his vision of drones whizzing deliveries to customers’ doorsteps within 30 minutes.
In the years since, however, the service has had a slow rollout and is only available in the U.S. in College Station, Texas, and Tolleson, Arizona. However, Amazon has also announced plans to launch drone deliveries in the UK.
A review of news coverage shows that the service has had its share of hiccups over the years, including a software change that paused drone flights, drone crashes, program layoffs and noise complaints from neighbors.
Still, the company has touted drone deliveries as a fast and convenient way to order and receive packages. Amazon restarted the service in College Station and Tolleson last month after a months-long pause as the company rolled out a software update to its drones, CNBC reported.
Amazon in December announced a new drone, called MK30, that it planned to use at its Texas and Arizona locations. The company at the time touted the drone’s ability to travel farther and quieter than previous versions.
Amazon spokesperson Steve Kelly said in an email that the company has not received any noise complaints since launching the new drone.
Inside the KC plans
City planning documents reviewed by The Star show that an architectural services firm filed a request on Feb. 21 for a special use permit to further the “Amazon South Warehouse Expansion” project.
The request asked for city permission to expand an existing warehouse in the I-49 Industrial Center “to develop Amazon Drone Delivery.”
The warehouse is near a Walmart distribution center and a Niagara bottling plant at the former site of Richards-Gebaur Air Force Base.
Amazon signed a lease for the 220,000-square foot warehouse in 2023, according to the Kansas City Business Journal. Amazon’s Prime Air operation would be on the southwest corner of the property and not visible from the road, city planning documents said.
A staff report shows that city staff believe drone operations would not have a significant adverse impact on the community or the facility’s neighbors.
“The proposed project does introduce a new type of operation for an existing use,” the staff report said. “At this time, due to the scale and limitations of the Prime Air program, city staff does not anticipate negative externalities in terms of hours of operation, lighting, noise, and traffic generation from the subject site.”
Four takeoff/landing pads appear on the engineering drawings.
The staff recommended that both the city plan commission and the board of zoning adjustment approve the special use permit, which they did at separate meetings on April 16 and April 23, respectively.
Among the key conditions were requirements that the facility comply with federal rules governing drone use. Per city requirements, the applicant hosted a public engagement meeting on April 2, but planning documents available online give no account of that meeting.
Amazon launched its first Prime Air test run in 2022 in the small town of Lockeford, California, a decade after Bezos first announced plans to initiate drone delivery. The company ended its Lockeford program last year.
In addition to Kansas City, several news outlets have reported that Amazon is also pushing to expand the drone delivery service to San Antonio.
This story was originally published April 30, 2025 at 5:30 AM.
