If all goes to plan, Tulsans could soon have groceries, pharmaceuticals and other household items delivered to their homes by drones. Yes, like The Jetsons.
Manna Air Delivery, a drone delivery service based in Ireland, is bringing its manufacturing and operations to Tulsa. CEO Bobby Healy spoke with the Flyer ahead of a Wednesday news conference saying he expects Tulsans’ shopping habits to fundamentally change in the near future.
“In five years, there’s no way you’re getting in your car to get anything that you might need in your home,” Healy said. “If you forgot the bit of hardware that you need to get that job done at the weekend, you don’t need to go in your car down to the store — you’re going to get that landing in your garden in about 10 minutes time.”
He estimates Manna will create around 1,000 jobs in Tulsa over the next three years. Those roles primarily involve manufacturing, maintenance and operations, he says.
As part of its planned expansion, Manna applied for city permits to build a drone launch site on a vacant lot at 1631 E. 15th St., just east of Chipotle on Cherry Street.
Eventually, Healy says these launch sites — or “hubs” — will be located across the city, serving businesses in their respective areas. Healy says he expects his company to have the “mesh” of 30 to 40 hubs fully installed across Tulsa in the next 12 months.
“It’ll take us probably a year to get the full Tulsa network live,” he said. “Then it’ll take more time to bring on board all those small businesses that we love to work with, all the mom and pop stores, the little bookstores, the hardware stores — all the places that we love and that we know in our community.”
He says Manna will have its own app, but the company has also partnered with DoorDash and Uber Eats. He says his company’s air-based deliveries will be cheaper than road-based options and far more efficient.
“Over time, it’ll become a lot cheaper, to the point where we believe — and we’ve seen this already in Europe — you’re going to use drone delivery for absolutely everything,” Healy said. “And that marginal cost of a delivery is going to be so low that it’ll be inconsequential.”
Spokespeople for Tulsa and Oklahoma’s Department of Commerce said Manna did not receive any financial incentives to expand to the city.
Why Tulsa?
Manna’s expansion here marks a big win for Tulsa Innovation Labs, a tech-oriented economic development organization launched by the George Kaiser Family Foundation in 2020.
TIL played a key role in Tulsa being designated as a “tech hub” by the U.S. federal government in 2023 — just one of 31 cities to receive that title. That designation opened the door for millions of dollars in federal funding for the Tulsa Tech Hub to work on technologies involving drones, unmanned aerial systems and other technology.
Healy says the tech hub’s SAFE-T initiative played a key role in Manna’s ability to come to Tulsa. SAFE-T is a radar system that allows drones to travel safely “beyond the visual line of sight,” he explained.
“What they’ve done is they’ve invested up front within the SAFE-T system radar, and all of these components that they put in to enable Tulsa airspace to be flown in a safe manner,” he said. “So, they’re ahead of the curve.”
Healy credited city and state leaders for making significant efforts to ensure Manna can successfully operate.
“Everything we’ve needed, all the question marks we’ve had, all the uncertainties a business like us would have, have been absolutely answered,” he said.
Drone use and other unmanned aerial systems are regulated by the Federal Aviation Administration, says Capt. Richard Meulenberg, spokesman for the Tulsa Police Department. However, he says drone operators are still subject to state laws like privacy, trespassing, stalking and harassment.
City and state leaders celebrate Manna move but neighbors have questions
Gov. Kevin Stitt, Lt. Gov. Matt Pinnell and Tulsa Mayor Monroe Nichols joined Healy and the Tulsa Innovation Labs team at Wednesday’s press event before a demonstration of drone delivery.
The governor applauded Tulsa’s efforts to become a leader in drone technology while Pinnell referenced a dinner he and members of the Oklahoma Department of Commerce shared with Healy a year ago, saying it had the biggest return-on-investment of any dinner he’s ever had.
Healy called Tulsa a blueprint for a drone delivery model that can be applied all over the world.
“This is going to be, if we succeed, the biggest delivery company in the world operating out of Tulsa,” Healy said. “That could not have happened without policy, without government policy, without local city support.”
While that group celebrated, Cherry Street neighbors had questions about what a drone launch site means for them.
Chris Mantle, who runs an art gallery on Cherry Street, says he’s excited about the company’s Tulsa expansion but he wonders how flying drones and their buzzing might impact nature.
“I did hear the buzzing, and I said, is this a trial run? And now, is the sky going to be flooded with multiple buzzing sounds? Is that like ‘loud pipes save lives’ with motorcycles?” Mantle told the Flyer after Wednesday’s demonstration.
Other neighbors, like Diama Norris, say they are concerned with the proximity of the launchpad being so close to hospital helicopter traffic. The proposed launch site is half a mile by car to Ascension St. John Medical Center and not much more than that to Hillcrest Medical Center.
Mantle is hopeful Manna and Cherry Street businesses and neighbors will find ways to “get along.”
“I’m excited for it. I just hope that it’s suitable for the community, and I think we’ll find ways to work with each other,” he said. “I mean, we’re all neighbors.”
This story has been updated.
Tulsa Innovation Labs receives funding from the George Kaiser Family Foundation, which has also provided funding for the Tulsa Flyer. News decisions at the Tulsa Flyer are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.
