The news: DoorDash Labs earned a Part 135 air carrier certificate from the FAA, clearing it to run its own drone delivery operation. The new unit, DoorDash Air, flies aircraft the company designed and built itself.
What the certificate does: Part 135 is the only route the FAA offers for a small drone to carry another party's property for compensation beyond visual line of sight. Holding one makes DoorDash the air carrier of record, responsible for its own aircraft, operating procedures, maintenance program and crew training, rather than moving volume under a partner's certificate. DoorDash says it is the eighth drone operator to earn the certificate. The seven before it, on the FAA's own list, are Wing, UPS Flight Forward, Amazon Prime Air, Zipline, Causey Aviation Unmanned, DroneUp and Drone Express.
The catch: The certificate does not clear DoorDash to fly its own drones autonomously over longer distances. That takes a separate FAA sign-off on its beyond-visual-line-of-sight technology, an approval Amazon, Wing and Zipline already hold.
By the numbers:
More than 20% of orders on DoorDash's platform in 2025 traveled three to five miles, and those orders took nearly 25% longer on average than shorter ones.
Drone deliveries last year averaged 25 minutes.
Order volume grew roughly 30% at some locations in the partner pilots, and DoorDash says the lift held across the nine weeks after launch.
The partners stay: DoorDash is keeping its existing Wing and Flytrex arrangements running alongside the in-house fleet. Head of DoorDash Air Harrison Shih said the company is "building the full stack to make that possible from the ground infrastructure to the drone itself, and the handoff systems that make it work together seamlessly."
What's next: DoorDash says it will share more about the aircraft later this year.
