Amazon’s trouble with its drone delivery system continues. The e-commerce giant Amazon launched a drone delivery service, called Amazon Prime Air, in the US in 2022. In the latest setback for the service, Amazon Prime Air has reportedly lost two senior executives who are said to be key to the company’s drone delivery operations.

As per LinkedIn data, Amazon Prime Air’s chief pilot, Jim Mullin left Amazon last month.

Mullin was a former Marine One pilot during the Obama administration. He was tasked with overseeing Prime Air’s safety and regulatory compliance. Mullin was also responsible for the site leads at the unit’s facilities in Oregon, California and Texas.
Last week, Robert Dreer, who reported to Mullin and was responsible for all of Prime Air’s test operations also left the company. Dreer has joined an electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft startup named Opener.
These two employees are said to be key to the Prime Air service and were based at the unit’s main site in Pendleton, Oregon. Amazon has not reported their departure publicly.
Other issues faced by Amazon Prime Air
In 2013, Amazon’s founder Jeff Bezos predicted that within five years the company would deliver packages weighing 5 pounds or less to customers’ doorsteps by drone. However, Amazon Prime Air has struggled to transition into a fully operational service and the latest departures come at a critical juncture.

Apart from significant job cuts in the Prime Air division, the service also faced regulatory restrictions that limit where deliveries can be done. Moreover, the deliveries in the two locations where it currently operates also remained short of Amazon’s target of 10,000 in 2023.
Amazon’s delivery drones also got involved in a few crash incidents in the past few years while testing. However, no one was injured in the crashing incidents. The company is now at risk of not completing a key regulatory requirement of the Federal Aviation Administration. In 2023, Amazon began durability and reliability (D&R) testing of its drones. This testing requires Prime Air drones to complete hundreds of hours of flying without any incidents.