Flytrex, a drone-delivery provider that has two test markets in the U.S., just doubled its delivery radius.
Under a new Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) approval, the company can now deliver up to two nautical miles from its base stations. The approval doubles the radius at all its stations in Granbury, Texas, (near Dallas) and three sites in North Carolina: Fayetteville, Raeford and Holly Springs.
That also more than doubles the number of customers the drone delivery company can reach, according to Yariv Bash, cofounder and CEO of Flytrex.
“Drone delivery at scale is finally taking off, and this approval from the FAA positions us squarely at the forefront of that movement,” says Yariv Bash, co-founder and CEO of Flytrex. “This approval allows us to reach roughly 100,000 customers with our ultra-fast delivery, and we look forward to continuing this exciting flightpath to one day bring three-minute delivery to the tens of millions of backyards across the U.S.”
The approval means the company can operate well beyond visual line of sight. It’s a fundamental requirement for drone delivery at any sort of scale so each drone doesn’t require someone literally watching its journey. The company has been working with the FAA under the regulatory body’s BEYOND initiative to test drone delivery.
The delivery process remains the same. Flytrex partners take an order, hand it over to a Flytrex staff member who brings it to the operating station. There, the employee loads the drone and it automatically flies to the customer’s home. The drone alerts the customer and then lowers the delivery by wire into their yard before returning to the operating station.
The company has steadily been adding partners as it grows delivery capacity.
