Amazon’s beefing up its already massive international shipping behemoth with around a dozen new Airbus planes operated by Hawaiian Airlines.
The two firms announced the deal Friday which will see the airliner fly at least 10 Airbus A330-300 planes for the retailer starting next fall. In a blog post, Amazon Air Vice President Sarah Rhoads said the A330s are larger than other Amazon operated aircraft which means they should be capable of delivering more cargo with each flight.
“We’re thrilled to have these new partners joining us for this next chapter of Amazon Air’s journey, and I can’t wait to watch these birds take flight next year,” Rhoads said.
Amazon’s operated its own budding air fleet since 2016 and, like so many Amazon entities, it has expanded at a mind boggling pace. During the onset of the pandemic, they reportedly leased 12 Boeing 767-300 cargo aircraft for a total of more than 80 aircraft in its fleet. Now, Amazon Air’s global network of planes totals more than 110. Rather than add to that number, Amazon said the new Airbus editions are meant to phase out older models still operating in its fleet.
In less than a decade, when no one was really looking, Amazon’s managed to quietly become one of the world’s leading shipping and delivery firms.
In 2018, the company started building out its own 16.15 m shipping containers. Amazon reportedly shipped around 5,300 of those containers from China to the United States in its first year. Now, Amazon reportedly ships around 10,000 containers per month, and ranks amongst the largest of Trans Pacific cargo transportation companies, according to Business Insider. As of last year, Amazon’s cargo transportation network accounted for 72% of its shipments.
On the ground, Amazon has rapidly expanded its delivery apparatus sending blue tinted trucks and stressed out FLEX drivers speeding through city streets from sunup to sunset. Amazon’s delivery system passed an important milestone in 2019 when it began delivering more than half of its own packages. Last year, Amazon made up 21% of the total U.S. shipping market, surpassing FedEx (16%) and trailing just behind UPS. Those figures are astounding, especially when you consider Amazon accounted for exactly zero per cent of that market in 2014.
Say what you will about Amazon and the brutalist labour practices, but they sure now to build out infrastructure