Amazon said on Wednesday it was planning to begin delivering packages through drones in Britain, Italy and a third location in the United States, as part of the e-commerce giant's efforts to expand its airborne delivery program.

The customers in these locations will have the option to have their packages delivered by a drone starting late 2024, Amazon said in a statement.

Drone deliveries would be integrated into Amazon's existing fulfillment network and will be deployed from same-day delivery sites, the company added.

Amazon's drone based service, called Prime Air, is currently available in two cites in California and Texas, where it launched last year.

The retailer has been working on a plan to deliver goods using a fleet of unmanned drones, and had received federal approval in 2020 to begin testing commercial deliveries in the United States.

(Reporting by Jyoti Narayan in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)