• Amazon Prime Air, the drone delivery arm of Amazon, has scaled back its project team in the UK, making more than 100 employees redundant and moving dozens of employees to other projects. Reportedly, the future of the project seems uncertain. However, Amazon notes the company still has staff working on the project but declined to confirm the headcount.

• The team reportedly faced issues with regard to technology, regulations, and management. With regard to technological and regulatory barriers, the systems needed to make backyard ground deliveries were heavy, making the final product heavier. Strict regulations, including more stringent safety requirements, apply for heavier drones in the UK to protect people and objects on the ground from potential collisions.

• Amazon Prime Air develops drones that can fly at a maximum speed of 15 mph carrying a payload of up to 5 lb, and promises delivery within 30 minutes. 

<ul><li> Analyst QuickTake: Amazon has been working on its Prime Air drone project since 2016, trialing the product in the UK, after obtaining approval from the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). The team working on the project from the US also faced more or less similar consequences last November , when Amazon announced tentative deals with two third-party suppliers to expedite the development and deployment process, resulting in redundancies in dozens of employees in the R&D and manufacturing at that time as well. Overall, Amazon scaling back operations could be viewed as a setback to the whole Drone Delivery industry, as Amazon was a pioneering incumbent who has been investing in this space.</ul>