Amazon Air
Amazon Air is a virtual cargo airline operating exclusively to transport Amazon packages. In 2017, it changed its name from Amazon Prime Air to Amazon Air to differentiate themselves from their Amazon Prime Air autonomous drone delivery service. However, the Prime Air logo remains on the aircraft. Until January 2021, the airline had relied on wet-leasing its aircraft from other operators, but at that time, it had planned to directly own some aircraft. On the planes the airline owns, the airline will still rely on others for CMI leases.
History
In late 2015, Amazon began trial cargo runs out of Wilmington 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.In March 2016, Amazon acquired options to buy up to 19.9 percent of Air Transport Services Group's stock and began scheduled operations with 20 Boeing 767 aircraft.
On January 31, 2017, Amazon announced that Amazon Air would make Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport its principal hub. Operations began on April 30, 2017. Amazon received $40 million in tax incentives and plans to begin construction on a facility with a sorting facility and parking space for over 100 cargo aircraft. At the time, the project was estimated to cost $1.5 billion.
In December 2017, the company, which was named Amazon Prime Air, announced its rebranding as Amazon Air to avoid confusion with the Amazon Prime Air drone delivery service, although the airline continues to operate under the callsign "Prime Air".
As of June 2018, Amazon Air had 20 of its 33 cargo planes based at the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport, with the rest flying point-to-point transit routes across the United States. Amazon Air was planned to move into office space at the former Comair headquarters by March 2018, but this did not come to fruition.
Amazon leased 10 additional Boeing 767-300 planes from ATSG in December 2018.
Amazon later created a new regional air hub at Fort Worth Alliance Airport, but this hub does not airlift third-party packages. 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, which would bring active aircraft to a total of 50. Phase one of the CVG sort facility, encompassing was completed in 2020. Phase two, to develop the remaining, was planned for the 2025–2027 period. Amazon stated that it eventually plans to have over 100 aircraft based at CVG with over 200 daily flights and 15,000 employees.
In July 2020, Amazon Air had secured up to six million gallons of sustainable aviation fuel supplied by Shell Aviation and produced by World Energy.
In September 2020, Amazon committed to buy four aircraft under their own operations. These would be the first owned airplanes rather than leased. The four 767-300 aircraft were previously under the ownership of WestJet, who purchased them from Qantas in 2015. In January 2021, with passenger air traffic severely depressed and cargo traffic higher due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Amazon announced it had purchased 11 Boeing 767-300 aircraft from Delta Air Lines and WestJet.
In March 2021, Amazon exercised its warrants to acquire a minority stake in Air Transport Services Group, the parent company of Amazon Air sub-lessor Air 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 in Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings, the parent company of Atlas Air.
In September 2022, a study conducted by the Chaddick Institute found that Amazon Air had a system expansion of 5.8% without having added any additional warehouses. The study also showed that in the same year, the carry capacity had increased, making it 14% and 23% as large as FedEx Express and UPS Airlines, respectively.
In October 2022, Amazon announced the lease of ten Airbus A330-300P2F freighters from Altavair to be operated by Hawaiian Airlines. These aircraft were planned to be converted to freighters by Elbe Flugzeugwerke, and the first of these aircraft was slated to join the fleet in late 2023.
In January 2023, Amazon launched Amazon Prime Air in India in partnership with QuikJet. The service planned to use two, branded Boeing 737-800 freighters to deliver goods in four metro cities: Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, and Bengaluru. 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.
Function
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 for last mile delivery or to a local Post Office for last mile delivery by the United 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.Destinations
Amazon Air flies scheduled flights to the following destinations. *NOTE= Recently added Belfast International, UK is not on the table.*:| Hubs/focus cities |
| Future destinations |
| Terminated destinations |
Fleet
Amazon Air transports on Airbus A330, Boeing 737 and Boeing 767 aircraft, all of which are operated by contracted partners. As of January 2025, the Amazon Air fleet consists of the following aircraft.Accidents and incidents
- On February 23, 2019, Atlas Air Flight 3591 crashed into Trinity Bay near Anahuac, Texas. The crash occurred approximately southeast of George Bush Intercontinental Airport while the aircraft was on approach to the airport. The aircraft was operating a regularly scheduled trip from Miami International Airport to George Bush Intercontinental. All three people on board were killed. This was the first fatal accident involving the Boeing 767F.
- On November 19, 2024, a Cargojet Boeing 767-300F, operating for Amazon Air, overran the north runway at Vancouver International Airport and slid into the grass while landing around 1:45 am. No injuries were reported, but the aircraft was substantially damaged.