Food delivery in Hong Kong has reached a new height as a major provider has started to use drones to send orders, cutting waiting time by 35 minutes.

The service, provided by Keeta Drone, a subsidiary of mainland Chinese food delivery giant Meituan, delivers orders from two fast-food restaurants in Science Park to a landing zone on Ma On Shan Promenade.

The operator said it was planning to expand the service to other locations in the new town using the company’s automatic kiosk system.

“The reason that we chose the Science Park and Ma On Shan area is because this is considered a relatively low-risk area with the bay separating the two [areas],” said Mao Yinian, vice-president of Meituan and the president of Keeta Drone.

Keeta is one of two food delivery platforms operating in Hong Kong, along with Foodpanda, following the exit of London-based Deliveroo from the Hong Kong market in April.

The new service, which will cost Keeta customers HK$30 (US$3.80) in delivery fees, will see travelling time for their orders to Ma On Shan Park cut down to only five minutes compared with the 40 minutes when orders are delivered by bicycle.