An Amazon Prime Air Flying Drone is displayed during an exhibition in New York City in 2017. — Reuters
SEATTLE: US online retailer Amazon.com Inc has laid off dozens of R&D and manufacturing staff from its delivery drone project, Amazon Prime Air, the Financial Times reported today.
The company has reached tentative deals with two external manufacturers to build component parts of its long-awaited drone, the newspaper said, adding that more deals with third parties could be finalised soon.
The full terms of the agreements with Austria’s FACC Aerospace and Spain’s Aernnova Aerospace were still being finalised, the FT report said, citing a person familiar with Amazon’s plans.
Amazon, Aernnova and FACC did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Jeff Wilke, the chief executive officer of Amazon’s worldwide consumer business, had said in June that drone deliveries will be available “in months”.
Amazon has also ordered 100,000 electric vans from Rivian to facilitate deliveries. The first Amazon vehicles go into production in late 2021, with all deliveries to be completed by 2024.
