Domino’s claims world’s first pizza delivery by drone

Domino's has successfully completed the delivery of pizza by drone to a customer in New Zealand.

The pizza chain delivered one peri-peri chicken pizza and a chicken and cranberry pizza to a customer in Whangaparaoa, north of Auckland.

The delivery service is a partnership between Domino's New Zealand and drone delivery company Flirtey. The store-to-home flight was made possible by Flirtey's autonomous technology, designed to complete deliveries across a variety of weather conditions and flight paths in suburban environments.

"Drones offer the promise of safer, faster deliveries to an expanded delivery area, meaning more customers can expect to receive a freshly-made order within our ultimate target of 10 minutes. This is the future," Domino's group chief executive Don Meij said.

Domino’s and Flirtey plan to launch pizza-by-drone deliveries at increasing scale in the near future. Domino’s said it is also looking at opportunities for drone delivery trials in Australia, Belgium, France, The Netherlands, Japan and Germany.

‘Closer and closer’

“We are moving closer and closer to widespread store-to-door drone delivery,” said

Matthew Sweeny

, CEO of Flirtey.

“To conduct these deliveries in an urban environment while delivering a hot, fresh pizza, is a validation of our delivery system that assures Flirtey is prepared for mass market deliveries around the globe.”

With clear skies and a small population of 4.4 million, New Zealand last year became one of the world’s first countries to clear commercial drone deliveries.

“Our enabling laws and regulation means we have the ideal environment,” New Zealand transport minister Simon Bridges said.