Amazon has restarted its Prime Air drone delivery operations in Arizona on just days after suspending the service due to a crash involving two drones in the Phoenix metro area.

The company temporarily halted operations in Tolleson, located in the West Valley of Phoenix, after two Prime Air drones collided with the boom of a crane on Wednesday. The crash, which sent both drones to the ground, prompted investigations by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

Amazon, which has been delivering packages of up to five pounds in the West Valley since November 2024, says safety remains its top priority. Spokesperson Terrence Clark confirmed that the company has concluded its own internal review and found no faults with its drones or supporting technology.

“Safety is our top priority, and we’ve completed our own internal review of this incident and are confident that there wasn’t an issue with the drones or the technology that supports them,” Clark said in a statement. “Nonetheless, we’ve introduced additional processes like enhanced visual landscape inspections to better monitor for moving obstructions such as cranes.”

The Prime Air program has faced several hurdles in recent years. In December 2024, a mid-air collision between two drones in Oregon forced Amazon to pause deliveries in Arizona and College Station, Texas, while implementing software updates. The company has since ended its operations in Texas.

Despite setbacks, Amazon has achieved regulatory milestones, including Federal Aviation Administration approval in May 2024 to fly its drones longer distances. The approval paved the way for nationwide expansion plans, with future delivery sites identified in Texas cities such as Richardson, San Antonio, and Waco, as well as Detroit and Kansas City.

Amazon has set an ambitious target of using drones to deliver 500 million packages annually by the end of the decade, making incidents like the Tolleson crash a critical test for the program’s future.

Source: Techcrunch