The proliferation of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) in Flying Ad-Hoc Networks (FANETs) has brought about significant advancements in applications such as surveillance, search and rescue, and environmental monitoring. However, the unique characteristics of UAV networks, including high mobility, limited energy resources, and the need for low-latency communication, pose substantial challenges for efficient and reliable communication. As a result, the design of routing protocols that can effectively manage energy consumption and reduce transmission delays has become a critical area of research. In FANETs, energy efficiency and delay minimization are two key concerns that directly affect the performance and lifetime of the network. UAVs typically operate on battery power, making energy consumption a major limiting factor in network longevity. Simultaneously, the dynamic nature of UAV networks leads to fluctuating communication delays, which can severely impact the quality of service, especially for real-time applications. Existing routing protocols often fail to simultaneously optimize both energy and delay, leading to suboptimal performance in terms of network lifetime and communication efficiency. To address these issues, we propose the Delay and Energy Aware Routing (DEAR) protocol, a novel approach that simultaneously considers both energy consumption and end-to-end delay in its routing decisions. DEAR optimizes the selection of paths based on the energy levels of UAVs and the required delay thresholds, ensuring efficient data transmission while extending the operational life of the network. The protocol was evaluated through extensive simulations, comparing it with state-of-the-art protocols such as DLSA, Co-DLSA, IEE-DLSA, and LSTDA. The results show that DEAR outperforms these protocols in critical metrics such as Packet Delivery Ratio (PDR), Throughput, Network Lifetime, and Residual Energy, demonstrating its effectiveness in enhancing the overall performance of UAV networks. By improving energy efficiency and reducing delays, DEAR offers a promising solution for next-generation UAV communication networks.