Amazon said Tuesday it has received regulatory approval to fly a smaller, quieter version of its delivery drone, the latest step in its long-running effort to get the futuristic program off the ground.

The company unveiled the new drone, called the MK30, in November 2022. It said at the time that, among other changes, the MK30 would fly through light rain and have twice the range of previous models.

Amazon said the Federal Aviation Administration’s approval also includes permission to fly the MK30 over longer distances and beyond the line of sight of pilots. The agency granted a similar waiver for Amazon’s Prime Air program in May, but that was limited to flights in College Station, Texas, one of the cities where it has conducted testing.

In addition to the FAA approval, Prime Air chief regulatory officer Matt McCardle said the company will make drone deliveries near Phoenix, Arizona, on Tuesday. In April, Amazon said it planned to set up drone operations in Tolleson, a city west of Phoenix, after closing a previous testing site in Lockeford, California. The company will send the drones to one of its warehouses in Tolleson as it looks to more closely integrate Prime Air into its existing logistics network and further accelerate deliveries.

An FAA spokesperson said the agency has granted Amazon permission to make line-of-sight deliveries in Tolleson on Oct. 31.

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos first unveiled plans for the ambitious service more than a decade ago, noting at the time that the program could be up and running within five years. Despite Amazon investing billions of dollars in the program, progress has been slow.

Prime Air faced regulatory hurdles, missed deadlines and layoffs last year, coinciding with CEO Andy Jassy’s widespread cost cuts. The program also lost several key executives, including the main liaison to the FAA and its founder. Amazon has hired former Boeing director David Carbon to lead the operation.

It has also faced backlash from some residents in the cities where it is testing drone deliveries. College Station residents complained about the noise levels so often that it prompted the city’s mayor to express the concerns in a letter to the FAA, CNBC previously reported. In response, Amazon executives told residents that the company would identify a new launch site for drone delivery by October 2025.

Amazon isn’t the only company trying to crack drone delivery. It competes with Wing, owned by Google’s parent company Alphabet; UPS; Walmart; and a host of startups, including Zipline and Matternet.