Amazon has announced that it has purchased 11 used Boeing 767-300 aircraft from Delta and WestJet, a first for the e-commerce giant. The company has gradually built up its air cargo capacity over the years through lease agreements, but this is the first time Amazon has ever owned its own aircraft.
The deal comes because plane prices have fallen due to the coronavirus pandemic. Airlines have rushed to shrink their fleet as passenger demand declines amid lockout orders around the world. The purchases include seven Delta aircraft and four WestJet aircraft, which will join Amazon’s network by 2022, the company says.
“Our goal is to continue to deliver to customers across the U.S. as they expect from Amazon, and purchasing our own aircraft is a natural next step toward that goal,” said Sarah Rhoads, vice president of Amazon Global Air, said press release. “If we own a mix of leased and aircraft in our growing fleet, we can better manage our operations, which helps us keep pace with our customer promises. ‘
Amazon launched its fleet in 2016 on the assumption that by 2022 it will have more than 85 aircraft, both leased and owned. According to a year-old analysis, Amazon delivers more than half of all its packages in the US, as it accelerates its push to own the entire logistics chain and ends its relationship with companies such as FedEx and UPS.
The newly purchased aircraft are intended to speed up the delivery of packages purchased by Amazon, which has seen the greatest demand due to the pandemic. The company says it will continue to rely on third-party providers to operate these new aircraft.
Amazon is fast becoming a major player in the world of transportation. Of course, as one of the largest delivery and logistics companies in history, Amazon has always been destined to play a major role in the way people and things move around the world. But some of the company’s recent transactions suggest that Jeff Bezos’ business has ambitions that go beyond just package delivery.
Amazon recently acquired the self-driving car company Zoox, which has just unveiled its omnidirectional prototype robotaxi. The company also participated in several rounds of financing for the electric vehicle company Rivian, which designed a battery-powered van for the delivery giant’s deliveries, and contributed to the driverless car and truck company Aurora’s $ 530 million round of financing. (Aurora has just acquired Uber’s self-driving car division.)
And of course, there’s the company’s interest in drone delivery. The Federal Aviation Administration recently approved the company to operate as a drone airline in the US, paving the way for commercial deliveries on a trial basis. The FAA said the ruling allows Amazon to “deliver packages safely and efficiently to customers” and have their drones carry packages outside the operator’s visual line of sight.