 | |
| Founded | 2015; 10 years ago (2015) |
|---|---|
| Hubs | |
| Focus cities | |
| Fleet size | 95 |
| Parent company | Amazon |
| Key people | Raoul Sreenivasan |
| Website | amazon |
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Amazon Air (often branded asPrime Air) is avirtualcargo airline operating exclusively to transportAmazon packages. In 2017, it changed its name from Amazon Prime Air to Amazon Air to differentiate themselves from theirAmazon Prime Air autonomous drone delivery service. However, the Prime Air logo remains on the aircraft.[4] Until January 2021, the airline had relied onwet-leasing its aircraft from other operators, but at that time, it had planned to directly own some aircraft.[5] On the planes the airline owns, the airline will still rely on others for CMI (crew, maintenance, and insurance) leases.[6]
In late 2015, Amazon began trial cargo runs out ofWilmington Air Park under the code name Project Aerosmith. In December 2015, Amazon announced that it would begin its own cargo airline to expand its capability.[7]
In March 2016, Amazon acquired options to buy up to 19.9 percent ofAir Transport Services Group's (ATSG) stock and began scheduled operations with 20 Boeing 767 aircraft.[8]
On January 31, 2017, Amazon announced that Amazon Air would makeCincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport (KCVG) its principal hub.[9] Operations began on April 30, 2017. Amazon received $40 million in tax incentives and plans to begin construction on a 920-acre (370 ha) facility with a 3×10^6 sq ft (69-acre; 28 ha) sorting facility and parking space for over 100 cargo aircraft.[10] At the time, the project was estimated to cost $1.5 billion.[4]
In December 2017, the company, which was named Amazon Prime Air, announced its rebranding as Amazon Air to avoid confusion with theAmazon Prime Air drone delivery service, although the airline continues to operate under thecallsign "Prime Air".[11]
As of June 2018, Amazon Air had 20 of its 33 cargo planes based at theCincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport (KCVG), with the rest flyingpoint-to-point transit routes across the United States. Amazon Air was planned to move into office space at the formerComair headquarters by March 2018, but this did not come to fruition.[9]
Amazon leased 10 additionalBoeing 767-300 planes from ATSG in December 2018.[12]
Amazon later created a new regional air hub atFort Worth Alliance Airport (KAFW), but this hub does not airlift third-party packages.[13] The new regional hub began operating on October 2, 2019.
For 2019 and 2020, Amazon committed to leasing 10 additional 767-300 aircraft from ATSG,[14] which would bring active aircraft to a total of 50. Phase one of the CVG sort facility, encompassing 440 acres (180 ha) was completed in 2020. Phase two, to develop the remaining 479 acres (194 ha), was planned for the 2025–2027 period.[15] Amazon stated that it eventually plans to have over 100 aircraft based at CVG with over 200 daily flights[10] and 15,000 employees.[16]
In July 2020, Amazon Air had secured up to six million gallons ofsustainable aviation fuel (SAF) supplied by Shell Aviation and produced by World Energy.[17]
In September 2020, Amazon committed to buy four aircraft under their own operations. These would be the first owned airplanes rather than leased. The four767-300 aircraft were previously under the ownership ofWestJet, who purchased them fromQantas in 2015.[18] In January 2021, with passenger air traffic severely depressed and cargo traffic higher due to theCOVID-19 pandemic, Amazon announced it had purchased 11 Boeing 767-300 aircraft fromDelta Air Lines and WestJet.[5]
In March 2021, Amazon exercised its warrants to acquire a minority stake in Air Transport Services Group, the parent company of Amazon Air sub-lessorAir Transport International. The deal was valued at USD$131 million for 13.5 million shares in the company. Amazon also holds warrants to acquire a minority stake inAtlas Air Worldwide Holdings, the parent company ofAtlas Air.[19][20]
In September 2022, a study conducted by theChaddick Institute found that Amazon Air had a system expansion of 5.8% without having added any additional warehouses.[21] The study also showed that in the same year, the carry capacity had increased, making it 14% and 23% as large asFedEx Express andUPS Airlines, respectively.[21]
In October 2022, Amazon announced the lease of tenAirbus A330-300P2F freighters fromAltavair to be operated byHawaiian Airlines. These aircraft were planned to be converted to freighters byElbe Flugzeugwerke, and the first of these aircraft was slated to join the fleet in late 2023.[22]
In January 2023, Amazon launched Amazon Prime Air in India in partnership withQuikJet. The service planned to use two, brandedBoeing 737-800 freighters to deliver goods in four metro cities:Delhi,Mumbai,Hyderabad, andBengaluru. The company stated it had planned to increase the number of dedicated freighters in India to six by the end of 2023, and that it would also continue to utilize the cargo space of other passenger airlines.[citation needed]
Amazon Air’s primary function is to transport Amazon packages from distant fulfillment centers that are outside of Amazon's local ground linehaul network for a specific area. Once the buyer's order is flown from the distant fulfillment center to the buyer's region, the package may be transported to the regional Amazon Sortation Center to be routed either to a local Amazon Logistics Delivery Station forlast mile delivery or to a local Post Office for last mile delivery by theUnited States Postal Service. Some Amazon Air packages bypass the regional Amazon Sortation Centers completely and are routed directly to local Amazon Delivery Stations for last mile delivery by Amazon Logistics.
Amazon Air flies scheduled flights to the following destinations:[23]
| Hubs/focus cities * |
| Future destinations → |
| Terminated destinations # |
Amazon Air transports onBoeing 737,Boeing 767 andAirbus A330 aircraft, all of which are operated by contracted partners.[4] As of January 2025, the Amazon Air fleet consists of the following aircraft.[50][51]
| Aircraft | In service | Orders | Operator | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Airbus A330-300P2F | 7 | 3 | Hawaiian Airlines | Deliveries began late 2023.[52] | |
| Boeing 737-800BCF | 31 | 8 | — | Atlas Air | |
| 9 | ASL Airlines Ireland | ||||
| 2 | QuikJet Airlines | ||||
| 12 | Sun Country Airlines | ||||
| Boeing 767-300F | 60 | 41 | — | Air Transport International | One crashed asFlight 3591. |
| 17 | Atlas Air | ||||
| 2 | Cargojet Airways | ||||
| Total | 98 | 3 | |||
| Aircraft | In service | Operator | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| ATR 72-500F | 5 | Silver Airways | Retired on July 8, 2023, after Amazon ended all connections with the operator.[citation needed] |
| Total | 5 | ||
Amazon.com is negotiating to lease 20 Boeing 767 jets for its own air-delivery service, cargo-industry executives have told The Seattle Times. The online retail giant wants to build out its own cargo operations to avoid delays from carriers such as United Parcel Service, which have struggled to keep up with the rapid growth of e-commerce.
In conjunction with the commercial agreements, ATSG also has agreed to grant Amazon warrants to acquire, over a five-year period, up to 19.9 percent of ATSG's common shares at $9.73 per share, based on the closing price of ATSG common shares on Feb. 9, 2016.
Amazon will lease office space at the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport while it shapes plans for its massive air cargo hub there.
In a massive economic win for Northern Kentucky and Gov. Matt Bevin, Amazon.com.com Inc. will build a $1.49 billion worldwide air services hub at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport, airport officials said Tuesday. The Amazon Prime Air hub at CVG will be the company's largest in the world and add to the 10,000 employees the company already has in Kentucky.
Even though "Prime" isn't included in Amazon's latest references to its cargo air fleet, it looks as the company is sticking to its custom of using prime numbers as the tail numbers for its planes. So it's a good thing there's an unlimited supply of primes.
Days after FedEx CEO Frederick Smith dismissed the Amazon threat to its business during the company's earnings call, Amazon announced an expansion of its two-year-old Amazon Air operation, which will now add to its fleet 10 767-300 dedicated Amazon cargo aircraft. The planes are being leased from existing partner Air Transport Services Group, Inc. (ATSG), which Amazon had previously tapped back in 2016 for 20 Boeing 767 freighter aircraft.
Air Transport Services Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATSG), the leading provider of medium wide-body cargo aircraft leasing, air cargo transportation and related services, today announced agreements to lease and operate ten additional Boeing 767s for Amazon.com Services, Inc., to extend leases for twenty 767 aircraft ATSG currently provides to Amazon, and to extend the operating agreement through which ATSG's airlines operate those aircraft in the Amazon Air network.
Amazon has an update on its massive air cargo facility at the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport, and it appears the online shipping behemoth could be operational -- or at least partially up and running here -- by 2020.
In addition to the Prime Air hub, an unnamed developer announced at a June Sanitation District meeting it wants to reserve sewage capacity for a 2.2 million square foot sortation building with 15,000 employees.
Amazon Prime Air is a planned system to deliver packages to customers using unmanned aerial vehicls (UAVs) or drones, but currently it uses a fleet of 21 Boeing 767-300ER freighters to carry packages between distribution centers. These 767s, converted from former passenger aircraft, are owned by Amazon but operated by Air Transport International (ATI; eight aircraft) and Atlas Air (13 aircraft).
Amazon Air is joining other cargo carriers at Ted Stevens International Airport. The move could mean faster delivery for Amazon Prime customers. The announcement was made Thursday on the airport's Facebook page. According to the Facebook post, the company will begin flight operations on June 27.
With CVG as the hub, Amazon Prime Air flights are operating from Ontario, California; San Antonio; Seattle; Tampa; and Charlotte among other spokes in the wheel. Few companies besides Amazon even boast the resources to go from zero aircraft to a major player in air cargo this quickly.
Five Amazon flights per day will be allowed atMarch Air Reserve Base, despite residents' fears that they'll again be subject to loud flights like those that disrupted sleep for three years. Airport officials voted Wednesday, Aug. 1, to OK the flights after consultants said the impact will be significantly smaller than the DHL flights that rattled residents from 2005 to 2008.
LAKELAND, Fla. (FOX 13) – Lakeland city commissioners gave their blessing to a project that is expected to bring considerable money and jobs to the city. They voted unanimously Monday to OK an Amazon sorting center at Lakeland Linder International Airport.
Amazon Air has launched cargo service to Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport. The daily cargo flights began this week.
ST. LOUIS (KMOX) – More cargo flights will start landing at Lambert Airport soon, but will those planes deliver your online shopping order any faster? Airport commissioners this week approved contracts with two cargo airlines; each would operate daily flights using Boeing 767 aircraft. The city still must give final approval. ABX would begin service this month, while Air Transit International would commence in October.
WILMINGTON — Amazon is again preparing to land in Wilmington. The global e-commerce giant, which utilized the Wilmington Air Park beginning in 2016 in a pilot project — but announced the next year it would leave Clinton County for the Greater Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport — announced Monday it is making a big return to Wilmington to "open a new air gateway" at the air park.
The Lehigh-Northampton Airport Authority on Tuesday agreed to begin what could be a more than $4 million project to build an additional cargo plane ramp at the airport before Amazon's Christmas rush hits in November.
We are excited to begin gateway operations today for @Amazon Air in San Juan, Puerto Rico, via @SunCountryAir . Welcome to the Amazon Air family, SJU!
NORTH KINGSTOWN, R.I. (WPRI) – A company that helps Amazon.com handle distribution in Rhode Island abruptly informed employees Friday it will shut down next month, Eyewitness News has learned. The Texas-based company, Pinnacle Logistics, will lay off 149 workers, according to a letter sent to the R.I. Department of Labor and Training by Mark Elsea, the company's chief operating officer. Pinnacle has had a busy warehouse operation at the Quonset Business Park and T.F. Green Airport.
On February 23, 2019, at 1239 central standard time, Atlas Air flight 3591, a Boeing 767-375BCF, N1217A, entered a rapid descent from 6,000 ft and impacted a marshy bay area about 40 miles southeast of George Bush Intercontinental Airport (KIAH), Houston, Texas. The two pilots and one nonrevenue jumpseat pilot were fatally injured. The airplane was destroyed and highly fragmented. The airplane was operated as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 121 domestic cargo flight, which originated from Miami International Airport (KMIA), Miami, Florida, and was destined for KIAH.
A Boeing 767 has crashed into Trinity Bay shortly before 12:45 p.m. The Federal Aviation Administration issued an alert on Atlas Air Fight #5Y3591 after losing radar and radio contact with the plane approximately 30 miles southeast of Bush Intercontinental Airport.
The three people aboard the Amazon Prime Air cargo plane that crashed outside Houston have been confirmed dead, the plane's operator said Sunday. The Boeing 767 operated by Atlas Air was a scheduled cargo flight for Amazon from Miami to Houston on Saturday when it nosedived into a swampy area about 30 miles from George Bush Intercontinental Airport.
Media related toAmazon Air at Wikimedia Commons
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