With Amazon and other companies looking for drone deliveries of packages, Cyprus’ post office is also mulling the use of the devices to bring boxes up to four kilos (8.8 pounds) to customers instead of using carriers.

Andreas Gregoriou, Director of the Department of Postal Services, told the Cyprus News Agency (CNA) the office is working with the University of Cyprus KIOS Research Centre to find a way to make it happen.

“We are at a very satisfactory level to see how we can utilise this new technology in order to render the Cyprus postal services more effective and enable them to deliver correspondence, in particular parcels and small packages, on time,” he explained.

He said that drone delivery could begin as soon as they year and would meet Civil Aviation regulations on flying them but there was no explanation of what would happen if customers weren’t home.

“We estimate that by the end of 2019, early 2020, we should be able to say something more specific, at least for a pilot implementation of this concept” he added.