JD Logistics plans to expand this service across Quxian and use return flights to carry local products including daylilies, lemons and plums.

　　Farm produce requiring fast transit may be among the more suitable shipments.

　　This photo taken in April 2026 shows a drone of JD Logistics taking part in the harvest of sweet cherry in Hanyuan County, southwest China's Sichuan Province. (Xinhua)

　　During the 2025 sweet cherry harvest in Hanyuan County, Sichuan, drones carried fruit from mountainous areas to a mail processing center in around 15 minutes. Conventional vehicles needed one to two hours for the same trip.

　　In the course of a month, more than 550 flights transported 7,586 packages of cherries weighing a total of 22.76 tonnes.

　　For fresh fruit harvested within a short season, saving an hour or more in transport can help reduce the time between picking and onward shipment.

　　A drone photo taken on Aug. 19, 2025 shows a drone delivering parcels over the Chaohu Lake in Hefei, east China's Anhui Province. (Xinhua/Huang Bohan)

　　WHERE DRONES MAKE SENSE

　　The faster trip does not yet cost less.

　　On one Zizhong route, JD Logistics puts the comprehensive cost at roughly 5.6 yuan (about 83 U.S. cents) per parcel by drone, compared with 4.4 yuan by vehicle.

　　Drones carry approximately 30 percent of their available payload on average, while almost all return flights are empty.