Option: Plane

Pros

Diverse

Planes are not dependent on the quality and/or presence of roads, so they can be used in both urban and rural areas, making the plane a very diverse option and suited for all kinds of environments.

Shortest routes

In addition to the plane not needing roads to fly to the right destination, planes can take the shortest route through the air, reducing travelling time (and costs).

Fast

Because planes will fly high above the regular traffic, they can travel at high speeds with little chance of getting into a collision. This would improve delivery time. However, if more and more of these delivery planes would fly in the air, there needs to be an aircontrol or plan or something to regulate traffic in the air.

Relatively cheap

There needs to be an investment to start up, but after that, costs are relatively low.

Sustainable

Ideally, the planes would run on a green current. This is beneficial for the environment in comparison with cars and trucks that are being used today.

Cons

No delivery at door, landing strip needed

Because a plane is relatively unflexible when it comes to taking off and touching down, a landing strip is needed and it is hard to deliver packages right in front of someone's door. People would need to go outside and grab their package, which is inconvenient if people are in their pyjamas and/or the weather is bad. In addition, in the urban environment it is impossible to create a landing strip for every household or street. This is necessary, because the regular roads would be occupied by the regular traffic.

Available space

The delivery planes are limited in packaging space. It is necessary to deal with this space in a strategic way. Do you chose for a couple of light, small packages, or just one big, somewhat heavier package. This choice is dependent on all kinds of factors (e.g., place of delivery), but we think it is possible for this to be dealt with through an algorithm.

Restrictions

There are a lot of rules and regulations for drones. They would have to be adjusted for a plane to deliver packeges to customers.

Privacy issues

It is very likely that the plane will use a camera or some other sensor to initiate and control the landing at the right time and space. This camera would also capture surrounding environments and probably people as well, which could lead to privacy issues.

Failures can have large consequences

The risks of something going wrong is smaller than with a car, but the consequences can be larger. If a plane crashes and hit people in their way, it could be life threatening.