Amazon Air's fleet expansion is a bid for logistics domination

Amazon Air is adding capacity to its fleet by leasing 12 Boeing 767-300 converted cargo aircraft from Air Transport Services Group, the company announced Wednesday. The new planes will bring the company's fleet to 82 planes by the end of next year, five years after announcing its first aircraft. "During a time when so many of our customers rely on us to get what they need without leaving their homes, expanding our dedicated air network ensures we have the capacity to deliver what our customers want: great selection, low prices and fast shipping speeds," Sarah Rhoads, VP of Amazon Global Air, said in a statement. At a May 18, 2019 event, Amazon announced plans to open an Air Hub located at the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport by 2021. The e-tailer's interest in air freight was no surprise as it purchased its first plane in 2016 — a Boeing 767-300 that would help the company meet its promise of one and two-day package delivery, the company said in a blog post at the time. But an entire air hub hinted at goals far surpassing the company's current infrastructure. A new report from researchers at the DePaul University Chaddick Institute for Metropolitan Development says this hub will play a central role in an airfreight operation at Amazon that could swell to include 200 aircraft within the next seven to eight years, the report suggests. Amazon Air had previously said it had planned on having 70 planes by 2021. It has yet to reach 70 planes in its fleet, but now expects its fleet to exceed 80 planes by the end of next year.