... as Australia left in a lurch
American drone logistics company Wing and its retail partner in the US Walmart have announced that they will be expanding their drone delivery service to Denver and Seattle metros next year, at a time when it has emerged that the drone company quietly left its Australian customer base in a lurch when it ended its contract with DoorDash early this year.
While the exact date when this can be done has not been publicised, the two companies are excited at the prospect of bringing drone-based aerial delivery – which they describe as “fast, reliable and convenient” – of thousands of Walmart items to nearly 20 more major US metros.
To date, the growing partnership has brought drone delivery access to more than three million customers across major metropolitan areas, including Dallas-Fort Worth, Atlanta, Houston and Orlando.
“Adding new metros to our expansion speaks to how quickly people across the country are adopting drone delivery," said Heather Rivera, Chief Business Officer at Wing.
"We're excited to serve the needs of busy families in nearly 20 major markets spanning diverse communities and climates by delivering the everyday items these families need fast.
“From Seattle’s rain to Denver’s wintry weather, Wing is expanding the nation’s largest residential drone delivery footprint to even more regions with a range of weather conditions and community needs,” the company added.
Wing reckons the new metros will continue Wing and Walmart’s progress toward reaching more than 270 total Walmart stores coast-to-coast.
In turn, this will bring drone delivery to over 40 million customers across some of the largest metros in the nation, including Puget Sound.
“Expanding drone delivery to Seattle and Denver is about giving more customers a practical option when they need something quickly,” said Greg Cathey, Senior Vice President, eCommerce Transformation, Walmart.
“Walmart’s stores put everyday items close to the communities we serve, and Wing helps bring those items to customers’ homes in minutes.”
Jim Ferrell, the mayor of Federal Way also chipped in.
“Innovation is a part of our way of life in Federal Way and around the Puget Sound. We look forward to Walmart and Wing’s drone delivery service bringing the region an incredible new convenience,” he said.
“By bringing advanced delivery solutions to our residents, we are supporting innovation, creating opportunities for future growth, and enhancing convenience for everyday things people need. The future has arrived and its being delivered by Walmart by drone!”
Meanwhile, Wing may be breaking through ceilings in the US, but in Australia, there are customers who felt cheated, used and dumped, after the drone company quietly walked out on its last remaining contract with DoorDash to carry out drone-based food deliveries in the country.
As aptly put by one user on LinkedIn, commenting on the latest Wing gloat; “Trialled in Australia, and then you bailed on that market. So disappointed.”
Wing pulled its drone delivery service from Australia with little fanfare in January this year, after seven years perfecting its drone delivery art.
The company, owned by Google parent Alphabet, ended its partnership with DoorDash on 16 January, having also previously operated from locations including Melbourne’s eastern suburbs and Logan and Ipswich in Queensland; it had already pulled out of Canberra in 2023.
“Wing ceased its drone delivery service in Australia earlier this year to focus on increased demand and the pace of scale in the United States,” a spokesperson confirmed to Australian Aviation in May this year.
“Although Wing is no longer offering a delivery service in Australia, the company has retained staff in-country to support our global operations.”
The business once conducted more deliveries in Australia than in any other country and had dubbed Logan, where they first cut their teeth as a drone delivery company, the “drone delivery capital of the world”.
Wing started life in 2012 as one of the first projects at the tech giant’s super-secretive research lab, Google X, alongside its augmented reality eyeglasses and self-driving cars.
It launched its first trials in 2018 before starting more commercial flights the following year in both Canberra and Logan.
Delivery initially operated from stores located within Google’s distribution centre but then shifted to picking up packages from the roofs of shopping centres and then supermarket car parks.
Speaking to the Australian Aviation Podcast in 2023, the business’ general manager at the time, Simon Rossi, said Wing was conducting around 1,000 deliveries per day in Australia.
“Online ordering has more than doubled in the last four or five years since COVID, and we ride the wave of that; more online orders creates more opportunity for drone delivery,” he said.
“They’re safe, they’re fast, they’re affordable, and they’re an environmentally friendly way to do last-mile delivery or on-demand delivery, and when we come back to that, we continue to see different cohorts of people using it.
“I think that there’s so many benefits to drone delivery and what it can bring that we do expect to continue to see greater demand, in addition to what we saw through COVID and the contactless wave that we rode.”
A 2024 report for Airservices Australia estimated that the country will see 60 million drone flights per year by 2043.