Amazon announced it took ownership of its 33rd cargo aircraft Friday as it continues to build a transport fleet independent of the US Postal Service and other air cargo carriers.
Amazon’s 33rd aircraft made its debut @cvgairport yesterday! Excited to welcome another Prime tail number to the fleet. pic.twitter.com/JkbUZBAwh8
— Dave Clark (@davehclark) April 13, 2018
The size of the current fleet is significant at 33 aircraft. It means that Amazon is able to operate its own transit and cargo infrastructure independent of legacy carriers. Over time, it may mean that Amazon will need to have a major air terminal presence at facilities like Paine Field or other regional airports. Now, that presence is distributed across multiple vendors, contractors and other carriers.
For comparison, Amazon’s Prime Air’s 33 aircraft compares modestly well to other fleets.
- FedEx: 650 aircraft
- UPS: 242 aircraft
- Alaska Air: 242 aircraft
- Horizon Air: 59 aircraft
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