Amazon has confirmed to Omaha station KETV that its next Prime Air drone delivery market will be the Papillion, Nebraska warehouse on the south edge of the Omaha metro, marking another beachhead for the MK30 fleet as the FAA's public review of the site closes on July 22.
What the Papillion service will look like
Prime Air will carry parcels weighing five pounds or less that fit in a shoebox to homes within roughly a 7-to-8 mile radius of the Papillion facility. The MK30 lowers packages via winch from a low hover rather than landing, and Amazon says it typically drops parcels within an hour of ordering. Prime members are charged $4.99 per drone delivery; non-members pay $9.99 in already-live markets. Amazon has not committed to a start date but is actively hiring Prime Air ground handlers around Omaha at $20 to $40 per hour, a strong operational signal.
MK30 is the platform doing the work
The MK30 is Amazon's fifth-generation delivery drone, weighing 83 pounds with a top speed near 73 mph. Amazon says the aircraft is roughly half as loud as its predecessors, can fly in light rain and steers around obstacles like trampolines and clotheslines with onboard sensors. The MK30 completed more than 6,300 test flights and 360 hours of FAA certification flying before entering revenue service.
How Omaha fits Amazon's 30-million-customer target
Amazon has spent 2026 stitching Prime Air into an actual network. The service was in Texas, Michigan, Arizona, Florida and Kansas by February and added Kansas City, San Antonio, Waco, the Detroit suburbs, Dallas-Fort Worth, Tampa, a Houston site, Baton Rouge and south Chicago in the months since — including the previously announced 176-square-mile Clay, New York zone. Amazon has told investors it wants Prime Air within reach of 30 million customers by year end and 500 million packages a year by 2030.
The FAA public comment window matters
Papillion's environmental assessment was posted on June 23 and is open for public comment through July 22. That review is the last major hurdle before the site can spin up commercial operations. It also lands as the FAA's new Part 108 tiered BVLOS certification framework begins to take effect this month for operators already holding Part 135 or Part 137 exemptions — the framework Amazon lobbied for and is now benefiting from as it scales beyond visual line of sight across US metros.
Reporting based on coverage from DroneXL, KETV, About Amazon and the FAA Notice of Environmental Review.