Has the FAA Killed Amazon Prime Air?

Prime Air, Amazon’s ambitious 30-minute drone delivery service, may have been downed by the US Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) new regulation proposals before it even got off the ground. NBC News has reported that these new regulations are designed to control and restrict commercial drone flights:

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said that operators of commercial unmanned aircraft would need to see the drone with “unaided vision,” in draft rules published on Sunday. It also said that small drones must not fly over people – denting Amazon’s plans for its Prime Air drone delivery service.

The FAA was quick to stress that the regulations are still in the proposal stage and that they are still gathering input from all affected parties.

Despite this, Paul Misener, Vice President of Amazon, sounds hopeful that the company will still be able to fulfil its vision, saying, “The FAA needs to begin and expeditiously complete the formal process to address the needs of our business, and ultimately our customers. We are committed to realizing our vision for Prime Air and are prepared to deploy where we have the regulatory support we need.”

Source: BGR