A massive retailer plans to bring aerial drone delivery to the Seattle area next year and no, it's not Amazon.

Walmart announced Monday that it will expand its drone delivery service to two new metro areas in 2027: Seattle and Denver. The company is aiming to offer drone delivery from more than 270 stores across the country, though it did not give a timeline.

Using drones from Wing, a subsidiary of Google-parent Alphabet, Walmart already offers the service in the Dallas-Fort Worth, Atlanta, Houston and Orlando metro areas.

It’s unclear how many Seattle-area Walmart stores will offer the service, but a Monday news release from Wing featured Federal Way Mayor Jim Ferrell.

“Innovation is a part of our way of life in Federal Way and around the Puget Sound. We look forward to Walmart and Wing’s drone delivery service bringing the region an incredible new convenience,” Ferrell said.

It’s also likely Tacoma residents will see Walmart bags buzzing overhead next year. Permit applications filed in September with the city of Tacoma describe new fencing and storage for “drone delivery operations,” at the Walmart Supercenter off State Route 16. Similar permit applications were filed in Federal Way as well.

There are no Walmart stores within Seattle’s city limits.

Wing said its drones can reach up to 60 mph and can carry up to 5 pounds. Once drone delivery is available in an area, Walmart app customers will automatically see drone delivery as an option.

Walmart isn’t the only retailer expanding drone delivery service, but it may beat its fierce rival Amazon to the punch in the Seattle area.

Amazon currently serves 10 metro areas with Prime Air, its drone delivery program. Most of those locations are spread across Arizona, Florida, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Nebraska and Texas, but the company said in August that it plans to reach 500 cities and towns by the end of 2026.

The company received approval from the Federal Aviation Administration in 2024 that allowed it to significantly expand its drone delivery program. A key part of the approval was allowing Amazon to operate its drones outside of an operator’s direct line of sight.

As delivery drones take up more air space, the U.S. Government Accountability Office flagged concerns over how drones will communicate with each other and other aircraft and recommended the FAA set additional guidelines.

Amazon said it will launch in Georgia, Ohio, Illinois, Idaho and New York soon, but has been quiet on bringing Prime Air to the Seattle area and Washington state in general.

The Portland Business Journal reported in September that Amazon was eyeing the Portland area, citing permit application records.

Under the National Environmental Policy Act, the FAA is required to consider environmental impacts when authorizing aircraft operations. Reviews under that federal law are submitted for drone delivery projects, including those from companies like Amazon and Wing.

No Amazon projects have been submitted for the Seattle area, but the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is reviewing a Seattle-based draft from drone maker Zipline, which has partnered with Uber as well as Seattle’s own Pagliacci Pizza.

Though they’ve always been rival retailers, Walmart and Amazon have increasingly encroached on each other’s turfs.

Amazon is a fast-growing grocer and according to Amazon CEO Andy Jassy, is the second-largest in the U.S., behind Walmart. Though Amazon has shuttered all of its Fresh grocery stores, Amazon’s household items and grocery business is booming through Whole Foods and the company’s traditional delivery service.

Within the past year, Amazon piloted and quickly expanded its Amazon Now service, which delivers household essentials to customers’ doors in 30 minutes or less. The company uses smaller delivery hubs, including several in the Seattle area, that rely on gig workers to drop off groceries and other everyday items.

In May, not long after Amazon expanded its 30-minute or less service, Walmart announced it was broadening a similar program to more than 33 U.S. markets.

©2026 The Seattle Times. Visit seattletimes.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.