NEW YORK – Amazon has filed a patent for massive flying warehouses equipped with fleets of drones that deliver goods to key locations.

Carried by an airship, the warehouses would visit places Amazon expects demand for certain goods to boom. It says one use could be near sporting events or festivals where they would sell food or souvenirs to spectators.

The patent also envisages a series of support vehicles that would be used to restock the flying structures.

The filing significantly expands on Amazon’s plans to use drones to make deliveries. Earlier this month it made the first commercial delivery using a dronevia a test scheme running in Cambridge.

In the documents detailing the scheme, Amazon said the combination of drones and flying warehouses, or "airborne fulfilment centres”, would deliver goods much more quickly than those stationed at its ground-based warehouses.

Also, it said, the drones descending from the AFCs - which would cruise and hover at altitudes up to 45,000 feet (14,000 metres) - would use almost no power as they glided down to make deliveries.

Agencies