Airbound and APDC Join Forces to Launch World's First Drone Delivery Network in Amaravati

Bengaluru-based aerospace startup Airbound has inked a landmark partnership with the Andhra Pradesh Drone Corporation (APDC) to build what the company calls the world's first drone delivery network in the Amaravati Capital Region. Once fully operational, the network is expected to support up to 10,000 drone flights per day, weaving aerial corridors across Amaravati, Vijayawada, and Guntur to move healthcare supplies, e-commerce parcels, and commercial cargo with a speed that ground logistics simply cannot match.

The Memorandum of Understanding was signed in the presence of Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu, lending the initiative significant institutional weight. Airbound will roll out the project in stages, opening with pilot operations in Guntur. That initial phase will focus on route mapping, regulatory groundwork, and stitching together a network of interconnected drone corridors before expanding to the broader region.

Naman Pushp, Founder and CEO of Airbound, made clear that the ambition goes beyond novelty.

He wants drones to outperform conventional truck deliveries on speed and cost, and sees aerial logistics as a practical way to cut road congestion while reducing the industry's dependence on warehouses clustered close to consumers. The operational model pairs Beyond Visual Line of Sight corridors for longer inter-city routes with Visual Line of Sight operations for shorter last-mile hops, a combination designed to accelerate scaling and open the door to partnerships with smaller, local logistics players.

Central to the rollout is Airbound's proprietary blended-wing-body tailsitter aircraft. Tipping the scales at just 1.5 kilograms yet carrying a payload ratio of 1.5 to 1, the craft is engineered to push delivery efficiency well past what conventional drone designs can offer. Pushp also pointed to India's deep engineering talent pool as a structural advantage, arguing it positions the country to achieve the cost reductions that will make drone delivery commercially sustainable at scale.

Airbound arrives at this partnership with a proven track record. The company has already completed more than 10,000 drone flights across India, including healthcare logistics runs with Narayana Health in Bengaluru. Building on that foundation, it now aims to cultivate one of the largest commercial drone delivery ecosystems anywhere in the world, with Andhra Pradesh anchoring that vision as a hub for drone-powered logistics and aerospace innovation.