Matternet, a drone-based delivery provider, announced that its partner, Ameriflight, a cargo airline, has received approval from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to use Matternet’s M2 drone for commercial deliveries (i.e. Part 135 Certification). This makes Ameriflight the second operator in the US to have obtained the approval to operate M2 drones commercially, and the first fully operational large-scale drone airline in the US.

The companies intend to offer healthcare and ecommerce package deliveries for Matternet’s customers in dense urban and suburban areas across the US.

Ameriflight will use Matternet’s software platform to manage the fleet of drones from a remote operating center.

Analyst QuickTake: Today’s news furthers Matternet’s goal of launching large-scale operations. Matternet has also received FAA Type Certification for the drones (approves aircraft design and components concerning safety and reliability in September 2022) and Production Certification for the same (verifies that the company possesses the necessary quality management and manufacturing capabilities in November 2022) . It also received an FAA waiver to test 20 drones per pilot in April 2023 which would facilitate large-scale deployments. Matternet also operates in partnership with UPS; the joint UPS-Matternet operation was the first program to receive FAA approval to conduct commercial on-demand drone-based deliveries in the US.