Amazon isn’t giving up on Jeff Bezos’ drone deliveries dream—and after 13 years of turbulence, the momentum is finally shifting

Thirteen years ago, Jeff Bezos strode into a room on the set of CBS’ 60 Minutes and revealed Amazon’s first delivery drone, predicting 30-minute drop-offs of airborne packages within the next four to five years. Ever since, the e-commerce giant has struggled to live up to that promise.  

On Wednesday, it took a step forward, announcing plans to expand drone delivery to nearly 500 U.S. cities and towns by the end of this year, which it said represents a sixfold increase in its drone network footprint and will total tens of millions of customers. The expansion comes after years of floundering to get its drone project off the ground and widespread skepticism that the effort—however attractive—will ever amount to more than a limited side project. It signals that Amazon is still serious about creating the reality Bezos predicted in 2013.

Amazon said its drone deliveries are expanding to the Chicago, Syracuse, Cleveland, and Atlanta areas, among other metro areas and towns, though it didn’t make clear how many deliveries it e...