Tulsa, Oklahoma is about to become the American proving ground for one of Europe's most aggressive drone-delivery operators. On July 8, 2026, Irish company Manna Air Delivery announced it has selected the city as its United States manufacturing and operations base, with executives promising more than 1,000 jobs over the next three years and a delivery network the company's CEO says could make it "the biggest delivery company in the world."
The announcement was made at a press event that drew Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt, Lt. Gov. Matt Pinnell, Tulsa Mayor Monroe Nichols, Manna CEO Bobby Healy, and the Tulsa Innovation Labs team — the kind of full-court political turnout usually reserved for automotive plants or semiconductor fabs, not a drone startup. That the guest list skewed so heavily toward elected officials underscores how badly mid-sized US metros are competing for a foothold in the emerging drone-logistics economy.
What Manna Is Building
Manna's plan centers on a hub at 1631 E. 15th St. in Tulsa, from which the company intends to stand up 30 to 40 launch sites across the city within roughly a year. "It'll take us probably a year to get the full Tulsa network live," Healy told local outlet Tulsa Flyer, describing an ambitious buildout pace for a delivery model that, in most US markets, still operates under narrow, case-by-case FAA waivers.
The company has already lined up delivery partnerships with DoorDash and Uber Eats, positioning its drones to carry restaurant orders alongside groceries and pharmacy items — the traditional last-mile categories drone-delivery operators such as Wing, Zipline, and Amazon Prime Air have chased since early test flights. Manna says a locally developed radar system, branded SAFE-T, underpins its safety case for operating at that density and cadence.
Notably, Oklahoma officials said no financial incentives were offered to land the company — a detail both Stitt and Manna emphasized, in contrast to the tax-abatement bidding wars that typically accompany large manufacturing announcements. Stitt framed the win as evidence of Oklahoma's existing aerospace footprint, pointing to the state's aviation and aerospace sector, which he said is worth roughly $44 billion, according to KTUL.
The Regulatory Backdrop
Manna's timeline — a live, dozens-of-sites network within a year — is notable given where US drone-delivery regulation currently stands. Operators today generally fly under individual BVLOS (beyond visual line of sight) waivers issued by the FAA on a case-by-case basis, a process that industry groups have long argued caps how fast delivery networks can scale.
The trade association AUVSI has been pressing the FAA to move past that waiver-by-waiver model and finalize a Part 108 framework for routine BVLOS operations. In a recent policy piece, AUVSI noted that public-safety agencies, infrastructure inspectors, and delivery providers have already logged tens of thousands of safe BVLOS flights under existing waivers, and argued that routine BVLOS authority could, for example, cut power-line inspection costs roughly in half. Among the group's recommendations are objective thresholds tied to fleet size, flight frequency, and complexity rather than blanket restrictions, a recognized "operate-by-rule" category for shielded operations flown near structures or infrastructure, and updated hazardous-materials rules that would let drones legally carry low-risk consumer goods — a category that includes many everyday grocery and pharmacy items.
That last point matters directly for Manna's Tulsa ambitions. A finalized Part 108 rule, particularly one with the hazmat carve-outs AUVSI is requesting, would be the regulatory unlock that lets a company go from a handful of waiver-bound routes to the kind of city-spanning, 30-to-40-site network Healy is describing. Without it, Manna's US expansion will still depend on how quickly the FAA processes waivers for each new site and route in Tulsa.
Why It Matters
Manna's Tulsa bet is a real-world test of whether a European drone-delivery operator can leapfrog the incremental, single-market rollouts that have characterized US players like Zipline and Wing. Manna has already built delivery density in Ireland; bringing that operating model to a mid-sized American city — rather than a coastal tech hub — signals a bet that regulatory clarity and civic buy-in matter more than population density or venture-capital proximity.
The timing is also significant. AUVSI's push for a finalized Part 108 framework is happening in parallel with Manna's announcement, not after it. If the FAA moves on objective fleet-size thresholds, an operate-by-rule category, and updated hazmat rules before Manna's 30-to-40-site network is fully live, Tulsa could become one of the first US cities where a drone-delivery operator scales under a routine regulatory pathway rather than a patchwork of individual waivers — a template other cities and companies would likely study closely. If the rule stalls, Manna's stated one-year timeline becomes a test of how far a company can push waiver-based operations before hitting a regulatory ceiling.
For Tulsa and Oklahoma, the deal is also a data point in the broader competition among mid-sized US metros to capture next-generation logistics infrastructure without offering the incentive packages larger manufacturing projects typically command. Whether the "no incentives" framing holds up, and whether 1,000 jobs materialize on the stated three-year timeline, will be worth tracking as the network comes online.
