San Antonio City Council approves Amazon’s plans to launch drone delivery service here

Residents of San Antonio’s East Side soon will be able to receive Amazon packages via unmanned drone.

San Antonio City Council, in an 8-2 vote last week, approved a zoning change to allow the e-commerce giant to launch its Prime Air Service. As part of the service, 83-pound blue-and-white drones dispatched from the company’s East Side warehouse, 6806 Cal Turner Drive, will be able to deliver packages weighing up to 5 pounds within a 7.5-mile radius.

Amazon plans to renovate the warehouse to include drone launch pads and space for charging batteries, drone maintenance and flight monitoring. Officials didn’t say when the drones might take flight over the Alamo City, however.

The corporation will need to complete an FAA-mandated impact study before launching its Prime Air Service here.

Outgoing mayor Ron Nirenberg and District 5 Councilwoman Teri Castillo cast the only votes against the measure.

“This is an issue of new technology,” Nirenberg said. “It took us three years to approve ride-sharing in this city, so the idea that we would be considering the influence of autonomous drones dropping things in people’s properties on a zoning agenda, to me, just doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.”

Meanwhile, Castillo raised concerns the semi-autonomous drones could take people’s jobs.

Even so, Amazon officials told the Express-News the company doesn’t plan to cut loose any of its 4,000 San Antonio employees.

After the renovations are complete, San Antonio will be only the third U.S. metro to have Amazon drone delivery service, according to the tech giant’s website. College Station and parts of the Phoenix are the other two.

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This article appears in May 29 – Jun 11, 2025.