Wing and Walmart are now flying drone deliveries from seven Walmart Supercenters around Charlotte, North Carolina, in Charlotte, Gastonia, Concord, Kannapolis, Lincolnton, Shelby and Kings Mountain. Wing announced the metro launch on Wednesday, October 21, offering groceries, household goods and over-the-counter medicine in as little as 30 minutes, with no tipping.
Walmart counts 10 communities in range, adding Huntersville, Indian Trail and Matthews to the store towns. Customers within about 6 miles (9.7 kilometers) of a participating store qualify. Several of the seven stores were flying long before Wednesday, though. Kings Mountain started Walmart drone deliveries in December 2025, Shelby in February, and Kannapolis was already flying by June.
Wing’s Charlotte Launch Makes a Store-by-Store Rollout One Metro Service
Wednesday’s launch packages stores that started one at a time into a single Charlotte metro service, with two more Charlotte stores coming online within a week. Walmart and Wing demonstrated it Tuesday at the Supercenter near Monroe Road in east Charlotte, Business North Carolina reported.
Wing was counting Charlotte among its five flying metros when it named Denver and Seattle on October 5. At the Monroe Road Supercenter, Wing has fenced off a corner of the parking lot as a nest with departure spots for about a dozen drones. The Charlotte-area stores are part of 60 Walmart stores nationwide that now offer the service, toward a target of more than 270 by the end of 2027.
Gastonia’s store had no start date ten days ago. When the city told residents about the drone site at the Myrtle School Road Supercenter, WSOC-TV’s report named none, as DroneXL reported. The store is now on Wing’s list.
The Lincoln County town on that list is Lincolnton. The Walmart in Denver, North Carolina, whose drone site Lincoln County commissioners approved 3 to 1 on June 15 after more than 200 people signed a petition against it, is not among the seven.
Customers in range will see a drone option appear in the Walmart app and on Walmart.com, Chain Store Age reported, and can also order through the Wing app. Charlotte had Wing drones before Walmart arrived: DoorDash and Wing began flying restaurant orders near The Arboretum Shopping Center in May 2025.
Charlotte Orders Cap at 2.5 Pounds and Come Down on a Tether From About 23 Feet
Wing’s drones weigh 11 pounds (5 kilograms) and never land at the customer’s home. They hover about 23 feet (7 meters) up and lower the order on a tether. Orders cap at 2.5 pounds (1.1 kilograms), and Business North Carolina reports that more than half of Walmart’s items qualify.
The cap has moved. Wise News Network put it at 2.1 pounds when Shelby launched in February, and Progressive Grocer’s account of Walmart’s announcement says Wing’s drones carry up to five pounds (2.3 kilograms). DroneXL’s October 5 coverage gave that five-pound figure for Wing’s two Hummingbird aircraft, and neither Charlotte report says which one flies here.
Business North Carolina says delivery is now free in the Wing app and for Walmart customers. In February, Wise News Network reported a $19.99 fee per delivery for shoppers without Walmart+.
A home needs a clear drop spot about the size of a picnic blanket, Wing spokesman Tom Kuhn says, and some apartment buildings with shared delivery spots qualify. Flammable goods, alcohol and pharmaceutical products are excluded, although Wing’s own post advertises over-the-counter medicine. The drones cruise at 150 to 200 feet (46 to 61 meters) and up to 60 mph (97 km/h). Business North Carolina’s reporter put the noise at Tuesday’s demonstration on par with a quiet lawnmower.
DroneXL’s Take
Kuhn told Business North Carolina that Walmart and Wing don’t need permission from local towns to fly, because the FAA regulates the flights, and only the use of the parking lot needs city approval. He has the law right, and I hope it stays that way. The FAA’s 2025 review for this metro already sets the flight hours and caps Wing at 25 hubs. A town council vote on flight paths would hand the 10 communities on Walmart’s list 10 sets of rules for the same aircraft. That leaves the parking lot as the one place a town gets a say, and Lincoln County showed how loud that hearing can get. Kuhn says Wing and Walmart keep local officials and neighborhood groups informed, and that outreach decides whether a zoning vote on one store becomes a referendum on drone delivery itself.
Sources: Wing on Facebook, Business North Carolina, Progressive Grocer, Chain Store Age, Wise News Network, FAA written re-evaluation, Wing Charlotte metro, April 29, 2025
DroneXL uses automated tools to support research and source retrieval. All reporting and editorial perspectives are by Haye Kesteloo. Read our editorial standards.
