VTOL Aircraft for Last-Mile Delivery: Opportunities, Challenges, and Climate Considerations

With the increasing demand for sustainable and efficient last-mile delivery, vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft are emerging as a groundbreaking solution. By bypassing the challenges of ground congestion, VTOL systems can reach hard-to-access urban and rural areas, transforming delivery networks. This paper presents a structured and systematic review of VTOL technologies across five domains: design and aerodynamics, control strategies, energy systems, last-mile delivery integration, and climate-related performance constraints. Unlike descriptive surveys, the review synthesizes evidence across studies to identify cross-domain trade-offs, performance limitations, and operational implications for short-range, hover-dominant delivery missions. To make the role of atmospheric conditions explicit, we introduce a compact climate--performance interaction framework that links key climate variables (wind, temperature, density-altitude, and precipitation) to aerodynamic, control, and energy metrics relevant for VTOL last-mile operations. Building on this framework, we examine how operational weather conditions such as wind, extreme temperatures, and precipitation impact VTOL performance and mission reliability. Particular emphasis is placed on climate influences, which remain underexamined yet critically shape operational feasibility in densely built environments. Using a transparent inclusion and classification framework, the study evaluates how VTOL performance, autonomy, and energy efficiency interact with logistics demands and urban constraints. The paper identifies critical gaps in research: 1) improving the ability of VTOLs to adapt to unpredictable weather, 2) enhancing energy management and advancing battery technologies, 3) increasing the role of autonomy, artificial intelligence (AI), and machine learning in navigation, 4) seamlessly integrating VTOLs into larger logistics networks, and 5) exploring the potential of multi-drone swarming. Overall, this review demonstrates that the successful deployment of VTOLs for last-mile delivery depends on coordinated advances in aircraft design, autonomy, energy systems, infrastructure, and climate-aware planning. The synthesis presented herein provides a foundation for future research and the development of scalable, resilient, and sustainable VTOL delivery ecosystems.