Zipline proposes up to 130,000 drone deliveries a day in Phoenix and Tucson, 24 hours a day, in an FAA draft environmental assessment open for public comment
Zipline is seeking to amend its FAA air carrier operations specifications to start commercial drone delivery in the Phoenix and Tucson metro areas, according to a draft environmental assessment the FAA has posted for public comment. Each metro area would have a maximum of 65 Chargers (drone docking towers), 1,300 Dropboxes (pickup kiosks) and 65,000 deliveries a day, or 130,000 a day across both, with operations 24 hours a day, seven days a week, including holidays. Zipline expects about 95% of flights between 7 a.m. and 10 p.m. and about 5% overnight.
This is a proposal at the public comment stage, not an approval. The draft says it becomes a federal document only when the responsible FAA official signs and dates it, and the signature line in the posted copy is blank. The notice inside the draft sets a comment deadline of 5 p.m. Central Time on Dec. 7, 2026; the FAA's web page asks for comments by Dec. 9. A comment the FAA receives by 5 p.m. Central Time on Dec. 7 meets both posted deadlines. The draft says the 130,000 figure is a maximum, that actual flights will vary with customer demand and weather, and that going past the caps would require additional environmental review. Zipline prepared the draft under FAA supervision, and its conclusions about noise and other impacts are the draft's, not a final FAA finding.
Servospace take: a permit ceiling, not a forecast, but the ceiling is the news
Servospace analysis: the 130,000 figure is a cap set for the environmental review, not a volume Zipline has said it expects. It is still a useful marker of intent. On Nov. 5 Zipline said it made more than one million deliveries in the Dallas-Fort Worth area so far this year, a company claim. One Arizona metro's 65,000-a-day cap would reach a million in about 15 days, Servospace arithmetic. Uber's stated target with Zipline is one million deliveries a day by 2029, so the two Arizona metros at their cap would be about 13% of that.
The draft's own numbers imply the equipment load. At up to 1,000 deliveries a day from each Charger and a typical 36 docks per Charger, each dock would turn about 28 deliveries a day, Servospace arithmetic. Each delivery is three transits, so the draft counts up to 390,000 transits a day across both metros. The 5% overnight share at the cap would be about 6,500 deliveries between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m., also our arithmetic.
Noise is the stated constraint. For a Charger at the 1,000-a-day maximum, the draft says the DNL 59.7 dB contour reaches 170 feet and that Chargers would be placed away from noise-sensitive areas, concluding no significant noise impact. Those are conclusions in a draft Zipline prepared under FAA supervision. The Platform 2 aircraft has a maximum takeoff weight of about 63 pounds, including an 8-pound maximum payload, and generally flies at 330 feet AGL. What the filing does not say: which merchants, where the Chargers go, or when service would start.
Sources
- FAA: Draft Environmental Assessment for Zipline International Inc. Proposed Drone Package Delivery Operations in Multiple Arizona Metropolitan Areas (PDF, November 2026)
- FAA: Public Involvement and Environmental Review for Drone Operations (Zipline Arizona draft EA page)
- Drone Authority: Zipline wants up to 65,000 drone deliveries a day in Phoenix and in Tucson, and the FAA is taking comments
- Zipline press release via GlobeNewswire: Zipline Raises $1.5 Billion to Build Nationwide Drone Delivery Network (Nov. 5, 2026)
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Summarized by Servospace from the sources above, drafted with AI help and checked against those sources before publishing. Claims are the companies' or outlets' unless we say otherwise. How we work.