At the end of December 2025, Amazon informed Enac of the immediate suspension of the Prime Air project at the San Salvo logistics platform in Abruzzo, Italy, together with its decision to withdraw from the process of certification as a Luc operator. The aviation authority described the decision as “unexpected”, as it followed the first test flight of the Mk-30 drone on 4 December 2024 and came while the programme was approaching the preparatory phase for a commercial launch previously indicated, in official communications, for spring 2026.
According to Enac’s statement, Amazon acknowledged the work carried out with the Italian authorities but justified its choice on the grounds of corporate policy, adding that the launch of commercial operations and the certification request would instead be pursued in another EU Member State. In the company’s public position, the suspension is attributed to a “strategic review” and to an Italian operating environment that would “at present” not offer the conditions required for the service’s long-term objectives, while nonetheless stressing positive cooperation with Enac and Enav and confirming the continuation of programmes in the United States and the United Kingdom.
Italy’s Prime Air journey began in October 2023, when Amazon announced that the country would be the first European market selected for the service, with San Salvo chosen as the pilot site linked to the logistics hub inaugurated on 1 August 2022. At that stage, the company outlined initial coverage across thirteen municipalities in Abruzzo and Molise and presented the Mk-30 as a platform capable of delivering parcels weighing up to 2.3 kilograms within a 12-kilometre radius of the operating centre. The test conducted on 4 December 2024, authorised in the dedicated area, represented a significant technical and regulatory milestone, as it validated, at least at demonstration level, the flight architecture and obstacle detection systems cited by Amazon and referenced in the institutional statements released at the time.
The breaking point came in December 2025. The notification of the halt sent to Enac is dated 27 December 2025, few days after Amazon reached an agreement with the Italian Revenue Agency (10 decembre) for a total payment of €723 million. This amount includes €511 million attributed to Amazon Sarl to settle VAT disputes related to the marketplace, and €212 million paid by group companies in a separate matter concerning labour management in distribution operations. In the interpretation that emerged in the national press, the Milan investigation into alleged VAT fraud for the 2019–2021 period, initially quantified at €1.2 billion with potential exposure of up to €3 billion including penalties and interest, represents a source of institutional and reputational pressure. Amazon has rejected the allegations and, in commenting on the agreement, pointed to regulatory unpredictability and protracted proceedings as factors affecting investment attractiveness, thereby framing the issue also in terms of perceived regulatory risk.
From an operational perspective, the Italian interruption fits into a non-linear international picture. In the United States, Prime Air began commercial deliveries in 2022, but also closed sites and temporarily suspended activities due to technical issues and noise complaints from residents, despite the Mk-30 being presented as a significant step forward precisely in terms of reduced noise. In the United Kingdom, the designation of Darlington as the first site has been accompanied by caution, with no binding launch timeline and an authorisation pathway still to be completed with the Caa. Viewed in this context, the San Salvo halt does not appear to be merely a local episode.
The technical details of the Mk-30 also help to explain the service’s economic constraints. The drone, described as an electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft, has an overall weight of 35.5 kilograms and a payload capacity of up to 2.3 kilograms, with an operating altitude between 55 and 115 metres and parcel release at around 4 metres. Reported estimates suggest daily capacity could reach up to 168 flights over eight hours, but the 12-kilometre radius and weight limit significantly narrow the pool of eligible orders. In last-mile logistics terms, this means the technology tends to function as an additional channel for specific segments rather than a general replacement for road-based distribution. Sustainability therefore depends on demand density, an appropriate product mix and highly efficient warehouse–transport integration processes, otherwise the investment risks remaining confined to a high unit-cost pilot phase.
For the local area, the immediate impact is primarily one of positioning. San Salvo had built expectations around the combination of a major logistics hub and an advanced last-mile pilot, in an area where Amazon’s industrial presence had already generated more than one thousand permanent jobs. The halt to drone trials does not necessarily affect warehouse operations, but it reduces the likelihood that, in the short term, specialised local skills will develop in aeronautical integration, low-altitude traffic management and the maintenance of autonomous fleets linked to a distribution centre.
There is also an infrastructure issue. From 1 January 2026, the launch of U-space San Salvo is scheduled, presented as the first U-space in Europe and developed with contributions from D-flight, Enav and local stakeholders. U-space is a set of digital services designed to manage low-altitude drone operations and integrate crewed and uncrewed traffic, with progressive service levels including registration and electronic identification, flight planning and approval, dynamic airspace information and advanced capacity and conflict management functions.
Without a large-scale industrial user such as Amazon, the infrastructure remains available for research and development, emergency services and professional applications, but the underlying question becomes economic: which operators will generate sufficient volumes and revenues to justify the management and maintenance of a sophisticated system in a non-metropolitan area. From a logistics perspective, U-space can also enable uses beyond consumer delivery, such as urgent medical transport, infrastructure inspection and civil protection support, but each use case requires its own operational chains, responsibilities and pricing models.
Italy therefore loses the opportunity to be Amazon’s first European market for commercial drone deliveries, despite an authorisation pathway that, at least initially, had been presented as collaborative and advanced. If the launch in another Member State is confirmed in practice, the demonstration effect that could have attracted suppliers, skills and investment linked to advanced air mobility applied to logistics will also shift elsewhere. At the same time, the temporal coincidence between the project’s suspension and the tax settlement reinforces the notion that, for global operators, the perceived stability of the regulatory and fiscal framework can directly influence the localisation of experimental programmes, especially when those programmes are not yet profitable and compete internally for resources with other corporate priorities.
Michele Latorre
