Junwei Yang, General Manager of Keeta Drone, discusses how autonomous drone delivery can accelerate last-mile services, reduce congestion and support the UAE’s smart mobility ambitions
Drone delivery is emerging as a new layer of urban infrastructure in the UAE, offering a faster, cleaner and more direct way to transport everyday goods. Powered by artificial intelligence, autonomous flight systems and multi-modal logistics networks, the technology could improve last-mile efficiency while easing pressure on congested roads.
Keeta Drone, Meituan’s autonomous drone delivery solution, has been developing its low-altitude delivery network since 2017. The company received the UAE’s first commercial Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) licence from the Dubai Civil Aviation Authority in December 2024 and currently operates autonomous routes across Dubai Silicon Oasis and Nad Al Sheba. Its network can complete deliveries over three kilometres in approximately 15 minutes, while its fully electric V4 aircraft consume around 0.05 kWh per kilometre.
Leading the company’s operations is Junwei Yang, General Manager of Keeta Drone, who brings a decade of aviation experience as a former air traffic controller and certified pilot. Having previously led strategy, policy and operations for Meituan’s Drone Delivery Division, Yang now oversees areas including airspace coordination, low-altitude operating frameworks and safety protocols. His career has also included roles with the International Civil Aviation Organisation and the World Economic Forum.
Yang is responsible for leading Keeta Drone’s global expansion, overseeing international market development and drone operations while coordinating airspace management, shaping low-altitude operational frameworks, and addressing critical safety considerations. His leadership supports Keeta Drone’s mission to enhance everyday living and dining experiences through innovative drone delivery services.
In this interview, Yang examines how AI-powered aerial delivery can strengthen connected logistics networks, the milestones required to scale operations across the UAE and the lessons Keeta Drone has gained from building safe, reliable and customer-centric services.
Interview Excerpts
How is drone delivery helping transform the UAE’s vision for smart logistics and connected infrastructure?
Drone delivery makes the last mile faster, cleaner, and more direct. Orders fly into the air and reach customers in minutes, clear of the road entirely. That matters most at peak times, when streets fill up with meal orders, parcels, and commuters all at once. Since receiving the UAE’s first BVLOS commercial licence from the DCAA in December 2024, we have run live autonomous routes across Dubai Silicon Oasis and Nad Al Sheba, and we have now completed over one million deliveries globally. Every flight runs on a fully electric aircraft using around 0.05 kWh per kilometre, which keeps emissions and cost low as we scale, and this is the real impact of smart logistics.
Drone delivery becomes a parallel layer of infrastructure that moves everyday goods through the sky and frees the busiest roads for the journeys that matter most.
What role will AI-powered, multi-modal logistics networks play in the future of urban mobility and supply chains?
At Keeta Drone, we run the aerial layer of a multi-modal delivery network, and artificial intelligence is what connects it to everything on the ground. Every order enters one system that works out the best way to fulfil it, whether that is a drone, a rider, or a ground vehicle, and then coordinates the handoff between them in real time. Our drones plug into this network through AI that manages autonomous flight, plans and adjusts routes in the moment, and keeps the airspace safe through continuous detect-and-avoid systems that separate aircraft in real time. Computer vision guides precise take-off and landing at each site, while demand forecasting and dynamic scheduling keep the fleet moving efficiently as volumes rise. For cities, this lifts journeys off congested roads and returns that capacity to people. This is how we see logistics move through cities over the next decade, and drone delivery is the layer that makes the whole network faster.
How can drone delivery improve the speed, efficiency and sustainability of last-mile logistics?
Drone delivery improves last-mile performance across all three measures. On speed, the drones fly direct point-to-point paths crossing over both manmade and natural obstacles – highways, water bodies and reach customers in minutes, free from road congestion. On efficiency, operations are automated and consistent, which supports high delivery frequency. On sustainability, our aircraft are fully electric and highly energy efficient, with our V4 platform using around 0.05 kWh per kilometre, which is a fraction of the energy a conventional delivery vehicle consumes over the same route, lowering both emissions and operating costs. Taken together, these qualities make aerial last-mile a practical way to meet rising delivery demand while reducing the environmental footprint of logistics.
What regulatory, infrastructure and technology milestones are still needed for drone delivery to scale across the UAE?
Scaling drone delivery across the UAE is a journey, and progress depends on advancing together across a few broad fronts, such as continued innovation, where the technology keeps getting smarter and more capable, from more autonomous operations to systems that perform reliably at scale and adapt to the region. The second is ecosystem collaboration. Bringing this service to more people works best when the whole ecosystem moves forward together, aligned around a shared vision for the future of logistics. The third is everyday familiarity. As more communities experience drone delivery firsthand, it becomes a natural part of how they receive the things they need. The UAE is one of the fastest-moving markets in the world for exactly this kind of progress, and that is what will carry drone delivery from early routes to everyday scale.
Based on Keeta Drone’s commercial operations in the UAE, what key lessons have you learned about building safe, reliable and customer-centric aerial logistics?
Our commercial operations in the UAE have shaped how we think about building this industry, and three lessons stand out. The first is the value of a forward-looking environment. The UAE has created the conditions for advanced logistics to move from concept to daily reality, and that progress has come from working hand in hand with regulators and government partners who share a long-term vision, with our collaboration with the DCAA central to it. The second is that this technology succeeds through partnership. Bringing drone delivery into communities has depended on close relationships with government, developers, and local stakeholders who help shape how the service fits into everyday life. The third is that lasting adoption is built on confidence and experience. People welcome a service when it feels simple, seamless, and premium, and when its benefits are clear. As the world’s second-largest drone delivery operator, we at Keeta Drone bring global operating experience to the UAE, and we see the Emirates as a model for how forward-thinking markets can lead the future of urban logistics.
Source: Tahawul Tech