Alibaba drones fly over Beijing as Amazon pleads for US tests

Shanghai

CHINESE e-commerce giant Alibaba on Wednesday tested its first drone delivery service, promising to whisk ginger tea to customers within an hour despite tight controls on airspace.

Alibaba's flagship consumer-to-consumer marketplace Taobao, estimated to hold more than 90 per cent of the Chinese market for such transactions, showed off a photo of a black and silver drone with helicopter-like propellers carrying a white box to launch the service.