Amazon Is Reportedly Looking To Launch Its Own Air-Cargo Business

E-commerce giant is negotiating to lease 20 Boeing 767s to avoid shipping delays by third-party carriers, the Seattle Times reports.

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Drones can wait. Amazon.com is looking into leasing 20 Boeing 767 jets to start its own air-delivery service, according to reports in the Seattle Times and Cargo Facts.

Anonymous cargo-industry sources told the Times that the ecommerce giant is negotiating with aircraft lessors to get access to enough planes and could start the operation by the end of January.

Launching such a service would give Amazon more control over delivery of its products and avoid delays from carriers such as UPS and FedEx, which have struggled to keep up with surging ecommerce demand. Two years ago, carriers were overwhelmed by holiday packages, and many were delivered after Christmas, forcing Amazon to offer gift cards to soothe customer anger.

“Amazon is pretty fed up with the third-party carriers being a bottleneck to their growth,” Robert W. Baird & Co. analyst Colin Sebastian told the Times.


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Martin Beck
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Martin Beck was Third Door Media's Social Media Reporter from March 2014 through December 2015.