Amazon Prime Air buys 11 Boeing 767-300

Amazon now buys its own planes to make deliveries
Amazon has just bought its own planes for the first time, from American airlines. Until now, the e-commerce giant was content to rent them.

Amazon is no longer content with just renting airliners to deliver packages to its customers. Now he buys some. On Tuesday, January 5, the American company announced the acquisition of 11 Boeing 767-300 aircraft. These planes, which were originally intended for transporting people, are taken from the fleets of two American airlines, WestJet (which sells 4) and Delta (which sells 7).

These planes will join Amazon’s fleet in two stages. It is first planned to welcome the 4 WestJet planes in 2021, followed by the 7 Delta units in 2022. Their arrival must be spread over several months, because it is in particular necessary to convert these aircraft into cargo – in clear , it will be necessary to empty the cabin of all the elements, such as the seats, used to welcome the public.

Airlines in difficulty

According to The Verge, Amazon plans to acquire more aircraft in the coming years. In its press release, the group said, however, that it does not intend to give up the rental of aircraft, which offers it a certain flexibility – in this way it can indeed increase or reduce the sails according to its needs. Amazon is credited with the desire to have a fleet of 85 devices by 2022, both owned and leased.

The crisis in the airline industry due to the coronavirus pandemic appears to have offered a golden opportunity for Amazon to buy planes at low prices. As our colleagues point out, the price of devices has fallen for a year. In great difficulty, due to a lack of people to transport, the airlines are trying to limit the breakage, even if it means parting with their aircraft.

All of these planes will be operated by the group’s airline division, aptly named Amazon Air. “Amazon Air plays a central role in delivery to customers by transporting items over long distances in shorter times,” the group wrote in its statement. “These additions to the fleet will ensure additional capacity in the Amazon Air network for years to come.”

Amazon Air has been operational since 2016. At the time, the company concluded an initial agreement with the company Air Transport Services Group to lease twenty Boeing 767-type transport planes over a period of five to seven years – in parallel, Amazon also had to invest in dedicated infrastructure to accommodate them. Subsequently, other deals were made, on a few dozen other devices.