Amazon Prime Air's push into the US Northeast just cleared another procedural hurdle. On September 23, 2026, Connecticut Airport Authority Executive Director Michael Shea briefed the CAA board on Amazon's plan to run a drone-delivery hub out of a 409 Washington Avenue warehouse in North Haven, three days before a separate FAA environmental push by Zipline puts operators on parallel tracks.
What Amazon Is Proposing
According to airport authority documents surfaced by DroneXL, Amazon wants to fly up to 1,000 Prime Air deliveries per day inside a roughly seven-mile radius of the North Haven facility. The MK30 aircraft weighs around 80 pounds, carries packages up to five pounds and drops them from about 13 feet. Shea told the board that Amazon has "coordinated extensively with the FAA to control the airspace" and that CAA staff have been in contact on the plans.
What Still Has To Approve It
North Haven's Planning and Zoning Commission gave Amazon a local green light back on May 4, 2026, but two more gates remain. The Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection is taking public comments through October 1, 2026, and the state's decision on the FAA's federal coastal-zone consistency request is due by October 16, 2026. Only after that will the FAA's operational authorisation clear the hub for takeoff.
Where It Fits In Amazon's National Rollout
The Connecticut push is the latest node in Amazon's stated plan to reach 500 US cities by year-end, following recent expansion moves in Greater Richmond. Prime Air's aggressive footprint has drawn scrutiny; Anthropic-owned DroneXL recently tracked state laws that Amazon drones are already flying past. A 1,000-flight-per-day facility of the kind proposed here would rank among the largest single-site drone-delivery hubs Amazon has publicly disclosed in the United States.
Reporting based on coverage from DroneXL, NBC Connecticut and Connecticut Airport Authority board materials.