Seattle-based Amazon.com Inc unveiled its first branded cargo airplane, one of 40 jetliners that are to make up the e-commerce giant’s own air transportation network as it takes more control of its delivery process.
The latest push to speed delivery of its products comes as the company ships an increasing number of packages worldwide.
Amazon’s parcel volume was an estimated 1 billion packages last year — the same number that FedEx delivered three years earlier for hundreds of thousands of customers.
Photo: AP
Analysts said it makes sense for Amazon to use an air fleet it controls as another way to get its products to online shoppers drawn to fast, no-extra-cost delivery.
“They’re such a big online retailer,” said Satish Jindel, president of shipping consultant ShipMatrix. “There’s so much volume that if you have to add transportation for yourself, why would you pay a retail price when you can get wholesale? It makes sense.”
The company’s first branded Prime Air cargo airplane, designated Amazon One, was scheduled to buzz over Seattle’s Lake Washington yesterday afternoon, just before the US Navy’s Blue Angels were to take to the skies, a company official said.
Amazon leased 40 Boeing Co jets from Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings and Air Transport Services Group Inc, which is to operate the air cargo network.
Eleven of the airplanes are already delivering packages for Amazon’s annual Prime loyalty program, which offers free two-day shipping and other perks.
The remaining freighters are to be rolled out over the next couple of years.
Despite its growing fleet of aircraft, Amazon said it plans to continue to use FedEx, UPS and other transportation partners.
“Because of our growth and the sheer amount of packages, we are supplementing our transportation needs,” Amazon senior vice president of worldwide operations Dave Clark said.
The company has been furiously building out distribution centers, where workers and robots pull products off shelves and package them for delivery, as well as smaller sorting plants, which arrange packages by ZIP code for faster delivery. It has a network of more than 125 fulfillment centers worldwide.
The company does not yet have plans to carry packages for others, but said it is constantly evaluating its situation.
Amazon has not been shy about competing in businesses areas far-flung from its e-commerce roots.
“Once you have those planes, it certainly creates the opportunity for new products for customers,” Clark said: “Stay tuned and we’ll see what happens in the future.”
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