Drones could soon be zipping across city and suburban skylines, delivering textbooks to students, according to a company that plans to launch the service by the end of this year.

Textbook rental company Zookal says it will use drones – provided by startup drone service company Flirtey – to cut delivery times to minutes rather than days. Customers would have the package delivered directly to them and track the progress of the drone via GPS.

The drone will hover above the customer and lower the package to them.

The drones, which can fly up to 60 km/h, have custom-built collision (bird) avoidance technology according to Flirtey, a joint venture between Zookal chief executive Ahmen Haider and Matthew Sweeny.

Flirtey is yet to receive regulatory approval from the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (Casa) – it first contacted the regulatory body on Thursday – and the drones can fly only 3km before needing to recharge, but the company is confident improvements in the technology will increase its reach.

"We will have multiple distribution points within metropolitan cities to allow everyone access to Flirtey technology," Haider told Guardian Australia.

"As with most new, disruptive technology, the range and battery life will improve over time."

Haider said he and his colleagues had been working with Casa to seek approval and had received advice from the University of Sydney's school of aerospace, mechanical and mechatronic engineering.

Zookal and Flirtey plan to trial their delivery service with a pilot delivery in November this year, before launching commercially in 2014 with a fleet of six drones.