After years of fanfare the future of drone delivery in Australia remains up in the air

Despite years of fanfare and well-publicised trials, drone deliveries are far from ubiquitous. In Australia, only two companies have been approved by the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (Casa): Wing Aviation, a subsidiary of Google parent company Alphabet, which delivers food, drinks and other consumer goods; and Swoop Aero, which focuses on medical equipment and supplies.

Swoop was this week awarded $1.8m in federal funding to expand its operations, which include transporting medical samples from difficult-to-reach locations to pathology labs, thereby shortening testing times.

But despite increased demand, the question of whether drone delivery will take off as a mainstream service across Australia remains up in the air.

With a wingspan of 1.3 metres, the drone travels at up to 110km/h, and can handle rain but not too much wind. When flying to a destination, its height is somewhere between 40 and 60 metres, Rossi says, but when lowering a parcel to the ground, it descends to seven metres, and never lands.

But Roberts suggests the comparison depends on the delivery vehicle, and that the environmental advantages of drones will diminish as wheeled vehicles increasingly electrify.

Other experts have pointed out potential environmental costs of drone delivery, such as increased packaging and risks to birds.