Israeli company Flytrex on Friday announced the milestone, which it believes makes it the largest commercial provider of food drone delivery in the U.S. The firm said 70 percent of the households in its delivery areas—which comprise a handful of towns in North Carolina and Texas—have used the service to deliver items such as sandwiches, hot wings, and even ice cream.

“We are focused on bringing our customers the best experience—and that includes delivery that is convenient for their schedules and preferences,” said Scott Scherer, chief information officer of Jersey Mike’s Franchise Systems.

Zipline leads the commercial drone industry in deliveries with more than 1 million as of August, but the company primarily delivers medical items such as blood samples and vaccines. Similarly, Wing, the drone delivery arm of Google parent Alphabet, has completed 350,000 deliveries as of January, flying a combination of food and convenience items with partners such as DoorDash and Walmart. But it’s unclear what proportion of those are in the U.S., as the company also has a robust presence in Australia.

Flytrex, by contrast, is focused almost exclusively on food delivery in the U.S. The company’s self-flying drones, which are monitored by FAA-certified operators, can carry up to 5.5 pounds of cargo and fly at around 32 mph, covering a range of 5 miles round trip.

Average delivery time is less than five minutes, with the fastest order being completed in just two minutes. A delivery box is fastened to the drone and lowered to the ground with a tether, protecting delicate items such as eggs. Orders are delivered either to the customer’s house or a public pickup spot.

The FAA in 2021 approved Flytrex’s request to fly over people and deliver to customers’ backyards in North Carolina, allowing it to begin flying commercially. Later that year, around the same time Flytrex launched in Texas, the agency expanded the range of the company’s service to 1 nm, then doubled it in 2022. According to the firm, the second expansion allowed it to reach nearly 100,000 customers.

Last year, Flytrex operating partner Causey Aviation Unmanned became just the fifth company—joining Zipline, Wing, Amazon Prime Air, and UPS Flight Forward—to earn FAA Part 135 permissions for drone delivery, which according to the regulator “is the only path for small drones to carry the property of another for compensation beyond visual line of sight.”

The key phrase there is beyond visual line of sight (or BVLOS as it is known in drone industry parlance), which denotes flights beyond the pilot’s field of view. The FAA has yet to finalize regulations on BVLOS operations, which has forced drone delivery providers to obtain waivers to add the permissions.

These exemptions typically expire after a couple of years. However, a Part 135 holder can have BVLOS permissions added to its certificate, as Zipline and Wing have done, rather than requesting temporary relief.

“Flytrex continuously innovates to overcome delivery challenges, ensuring our drones can handle anything from large and heavy family meals to bad weather and oddly shaped packages,” said Yariv Bash, CEO and cofounder of Flytrex.

According to Flytrex, french fries, chicken nuggets, turkey sandwiches, chicken sandwiches, and burrito bowls have been the company’s most popular restaurant orders, while bananas, limes, and ice cream reign supreme at grocery stores. About 36 percent of all grocery orders included some kind of fresh produce.

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Wing, the drone delivery venture of Google parent Alphabet, on Wednesday announced it is expanding to Melbourne and the Australian state of Victoria along with its food delivery partner. More than 250,000 residents can now order food, drinks, and household items by drone, straight to their backyard, directly through the DoorDash app.

Melbourne is not the first market Wing and DoorDash have targeted, and it is unlikely to be the last. The partners began offering the service in the Brisbane suburb of Logan in 2022 and in March expanded to Christiansburg, Virginia, in partnership with Wendy’s.

Wing’s delivery area in Melbourne, however, is its largest yet in Australia, covering 26 suburbs in the east of the city. The larger size was enabled via regulatory approvals from the country’s leadership.

The service will also feature the company’s highest pilot-to-aircraft ratio to date, with a single pilot assigned to monitor up to 50 drones at a time, three times more than previously permitted. The increase was approved, Wing said, because the company has been able to demonstrate the safety of its service over five years of operation in the country.

The drones cruise at roughly 65 mph (56 knots) at an altitude of about 200 feet, and all flights are preplanned by an automated system. They can continue flying in light rain or even snow. The DoorDash app will provide customers with a countdown clock to collect their delivery, which, as FLYING saw firsthand, is accurate down to the second.

Partnering with DoorDash is part of Wing’s strategy of direct integration. The company uses tools such as automation and autonomous drone loaders to streamline the order and delivery process on the merchant’s end, while the customer gains easy access to the service through one of the world’s largest food delivery platforms. DoorDash, for its part, has also not been shy about its use of autonomy.

Separately, Wing announced an expansion of its service in the Dallas-Fort Worth metro area of Texas with partner Walmart. The companies added two new Walmart locations to their network, expanding it to six stores covering more than a dozen neighborhoods.

The drone delivery provider is also looking to get into healthcare through a collaboration with the U.K.’s Apian. The firms recently partnered with a collection of Irish companies to launch a healthcare drone delivery trial, including 100 flights per week of medical supplies and devices to Irish hospitals.

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