Wing expands to Melbourne, Australia with DoorDash drone deliveries
After more than five years of largely successful drone operations in the state of Queensland, Australia, Wing’s drone delivery operations are finally expanding to a different Australian state. Wing, the drone delivery arm affiliated with Google, announced in July 2024 that it is headed to the Melbourne area. That makes Wing’s first operations in Victoria, Australia.
The Wing deliveries in Victoria will be available to certain homes in the greater-Melbourne area. Given the radius upon which Wing will operate in Victoria, this will mark Wing’s largest approved delivery area in Australia to-date.
For the Melbourne deliveries, Wing will continue to partner with DoorDash. The Wing partnership with DoorDash first took off in November 2022 in Logan, Australia. Logan, a city in Queensland, has been one of the primary sites for Wing’s Australian operations thus far. Through it, eligible customers can place orders for certain, drone delivery-eligible items directly through their DoorDash apps.
The new Melbourne expansion will follow a similar model of drone deliveries already happening at the Grand Plaza Mall in Logan City, Australia. It’s called a store-to-door model. With it, Wing establishes what it calls its “drone nest” with a store or shopping center. From there, drones directly depart from that store or shopping center — rather than from a separate warehouse. (Here’s a deep dive into how Wing’s deliveries from the shopping mall rooftop work.)
With its Melbourne expansion, Wing will place its first Nest at the Eastland Shopping Centre, which is located in the eastern Melbourne suburb of Ringwood, Victoria, Australia. Considered the fourth-largest shopping centre in Australia, it has more than 340 retail stores and services. The location will unlock drone delivery access to more than 250,000 Melbourne-area residents.
That large of an area — and that many potential customers — means more reliance on autonomy. In turn, that means less reliance on humans. Wing says its Melbourne operations will have a 50-1 drone to pilot ratio, meaning a single pilot to oversee up to 50 drones in the air at any given time. That’s a 3x increase over Wing’s prior drone delivery approvals.
Related read: New Wing delivery drone prototypes include design that carries 7 lb packages
The state of Wing drone deliveries in 2024
In a July 2024 statement, Wing called 2024 “the year of drone delivery.” And it very well may be.
Other recent Wing drone delivery expansions this month have included a partnership between Wing, Apian, Blackrock Health, St. Vincent’s Private Hospital, Medtronic. With that, those companies are working on a drone delivery trial of all sorts of medical supplies and devices to hospitals around Dublin. Though, that one is a fairly small test, with only about an estimated 100 flights weekly.
And over in the U.S., Wing is also growing. Following news that Walmart would integrate drone delivery directly into its own Walmart app, Wing has officially launched service from two Texas Walmart locations (stores in Arlington and Fort Worth). With that, Wing and Walmart now offer drone delivery from six locations to homes in more than a dozen localities across the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex.
Early this year, Wing also brought that DoorDash partnership that first kicked off in Australia over to Christiansburg, Virginia. With that, eligible residents who order specifically from Wendy’s via DoorDash can opt to get a Frosty, Baconator or other Wendy’s order delivered via drone.
Oh, and if you’ve never tried DoorDash before, you can use this link to get $5 off your first DoorDash order — whether or not it’s delivered via drone.
Related read: 11 beloved restaurants that you can order drone delivery from in America
Other drone delivery growth in 2024
Of course, Wing isn’t the only company growing its drone delivery offerings this year. Also this month, we got critical deals about a planned Amazon drone delivery offering in Arizona’s Phoenix metro area. Amazon is also currently working on efforts to expand its existing College Station, Texas drone deliveries.
Meanwhile, Zipline (which is considered the world’s largest drone delivery operator) crossed a huge milestone in April 2024 when it made its one millionth commercial drone delivery to an actual customer.
And even smaller players are innovating big. For example, DroneUp pioneered a compelling new Ecosystem platform in 2024. That platform involves standalone units (about the size of two parking spaces) serving as mini package takeoff and delivery centers. DroneUp can place these basically anywhere throughout a city. From there, where customers can pick up their drone-delivered packages without actually touching the drone itself.
