SINGAPORE — The country's national postal service has started testing drones for delivery.

SingPost announced Thursday one of its unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) had flown 2.3 kilometres (1.43 miles) to deliver a letter and a T-shirt to Pulau Ubin, an island off the northeast coast of Singapore's main island. The journey, which occurred on Sept. 25, took five minutes between Pulau Ubin and Lorong Halus, an open area on the main island facing Ubin.

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SingPost worked with the government technology agency, the Infocomm Development Authority (IDA), to build the drone and used a custom smartphone app to operate it. The drone was battery operated and built with the Pixhawk Steadidrone kit.

SingPost's drone.

In a statement, Jacqueline Poh, managing director of the IDA, noted the regulatory barriers that need to be overcome before Singaporeans start seeing more drones in the sky. "It will be a while before it is viable for drone mail delivery to take off in Singapore, taking into consideration commercial and safety factors," she said.

To make the trial happen, SingPost had to get it cleared by five government bodies — the Ministry of Transport, Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore, the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore, the Republic of Singapore Air Force and the Singapore Police Force.

This is a video of the drone at work.

An app built by the IDA for deliveries. Video: YouTube, SingPost

The flight path the drone took.

The SingPost trial isn't the world's first successful drone delivery. In July, an Australian drone delivery startup called Flirtey managed to carry medical supplies from an airfield to a medical clinic at a distance of more than 35 miles (56.33 kilometres) in the U.S. They had to get the Federal Aviation Administration to approve the flight.

The Swiss Post also started testing drone delivery in July, and France's Le Groupe La Poste started testing short flights in 2014 (PDF).

Close up of Flirtey delivering in Virginia today! pic.twitter.com/7genpCweHF — Flirtey (@Fly_Flirtey) July 17, 2015

SingPost is exploring new ways of adding last-mile delivery modes as it tries to get a firmer foothold as an ecommerce logistics player. In September, it said it would increase the number of parcel lockers scattered across the island, which it offers to people as a post box destination for their online purchases.

The lockers are aimed at the needs of some 20% of shoppers who say they can't receive their goods at their home address because they're out during the day, The Straits Times reports.

The increased focus on ecommerce may also be prompted by one of SingPost's most important shareholders. In July, Chinese online shopping giant Alibaba spent S$279 million (US$197 million) to expand its 10% stake in SingPost by 5%. It bought the initial 10% last year for $249 million (US$176 million).