Amazon Air officially opened up space on its fleet of cargo jets to freight forwarders and businesses, in a move to challenge airfreight giants like FedEx and UPS.
The company announced on its LinkedIn, “Amazon Air Cargo is now open for business serving domestic networks across North America, EMEA, and Asia. Built on the backbone of Amazon’s world-class logistics network, we’re ready to handle, transport, and deliver your goods safely, securely, and efficiently — on time, every day.”
Amazon said it could provide space on 250+ daily flights, including partner airlines, and would also offer ad hoc, charter, or blocked space services. The airline is able to carry general cargo, pharmaceuticals, perishables, dangerous goods and parcels on its fleet of 100+ Boeing 737, Boeing 767 and Airbus A330 aircraft.
Amazon has been quietly selling space on its cargo jets to a handful of clients since 2019 including Airblox, Apex Logistics, and Naniq Global Logistics, but now it's opening up its fleet to the masses.
Amazon wrote, “Amazon Air Cargo has been offering third-party shippers access to Amazon’s logistics network to deliver air shipments with speed and reliability since 2019, and we are excited to now expand the service to more cargo customers.”
Businesses can now book air cargo shipments directly on AmazonAirCargo.com.
Amazon Air, was created in 2016 to meet the demands of Prime’s one- and two-day shipping commitments. By 2020, Amazon Air operated more than 80 planes and expanded to regional air hubs across the US. Its fleet now includes over 100 aircraft, operating from 54 US airports with more than 250 daily flights.
Air Cargo News commented, “At this stage, it is not clear if the move is a long-term strategy to compete with the likes of FedEx and UPS or a measure to fill spare capacity that it cannot fill with its own cargo.”