Amazon has become the first retailer to launch a drone delivery service in the UK, kicking off a limited trial in Darlington, County Durham.

The ecommerce giant is now using drones to deliver selected everyday items, including beauty products, batteries and cables, to eligible customers within a 7.5-mile radius of its Darlington fulfilment centre.

Orders must weigh less than 5lb, or 2.2kg, and are currently delivered within two hours. In the US, where Amazon already operates drone deliveries across five states, the average delivery time is around 36 minutes.

The UK trial will see Amazon operate a maximum of 10 flights an hour, equating to up to 100 deliveries a day on weekdays.

Amazon Prime Air vice president David Carbon said the retailer was confident shoppers would embrace faster delivery options.

“People have never told us they want their stuff slower,” he told the BBC. “If you’ve got kids and you want fever medication, you want it. You don’t want to drive to the store.”

The service is still in its early stages and is only available to customers with a garden or yard where parcels can be dropped. Packages are released from a height of around 12ft.

Darlington has been chosen as Amazon’s only drone delivery location outside the US because of its mix of residential areas, major roads and proximity to Teesside Airport, allowing the retailer to test its drones in a range of operating conditions close to one of its fulfilment hubs.

The drones being used in the trial are Amazon’s MK30 models, which are designed to operate autonomously and use sensors to avoid obstacles such as washing lines, trampolines, people and other aircraft.

Amazon has secured approval from the Civil Aviation Authority to run the trial until the end of the year. It has also been granted temporary protected airspace, which is required for autonomous drone flights under current UK rules.

Amazon’s drones are flying beyond visual line of sight, although they are remotely monitored by operators at its base, who can liaise with air traffic controllers at Teesside Airport when required.

The launch comes more than a decade after Amazon first set out its drone delivery ambitions, and follows delays to its original plan to start UK deliveries in 2024.

However, wider rollout is likely to remain challenging. University of Reading associate professor of geography Dr Anna Jackman said drone deliveries were difficult to scale in dense urban areas, particularly where customers live in high-rise buildings.

Amazon’s US drone operations have also faced scrutiny after an MK30 drone hit the side of an apartment building in Texas earlier this year. No one was injured, and Amazon has since stopped deliveries to similar apartment buildings.

Carbon said the incident was part of the company’s learning process, adding that 170,000 drone flights had been completed safely.

Despite the operational and regulatory hurdles, Amazon insists drone delivery can become commercially viable.

“We wouldn’t be doing it if it wasn’t commercially viable,” Carbon said. “It’s a business, right? Absolutely, it can be commercially viable, and that’s the goal that we’re going after.”

Click here to sign up to Retail Gazette‘s free daily email newsletter