Amazon Unveils Branded Cargo Jet for Prime Air

By Alex Batty, MHI Marketing Communications Coordinator |@mhi_alex

As Amazon continues to expand its offerings to increase and maintain its customer base, it may be looking to take more control over how it ships its orders.

On August 4th, Amazon unveiled the new branded Prime Air plane, a Boeing 767 that has been converted to a freighter. While Amazon doesn’t own the planes directly, they are contracted with two aircraft leasing companies, Atlas and Air Transportation Services Group, and have plans to fly up to 40 dedicated cargo planes, expanding as needed over the next two years.

Prime Air Jet in Hangar

(Image: Amazon via Business Wire)

Previous to this point, Amazon did have eleven cargo planes in operation for its Prime shipping services, but this is the first one to be painted and branded as a dedicated Prime Air plane. The newly re-minted plane flew during the August 5 weekend over Lake Washington near Seattle, WA. Designated ‘Amazon One’, the 767 was first unveiled at a press event in a Boeing hangar.

The plan to have dedicated cargo planes comes from a need to provide more efficient shipping during peak periods. Having dedicated Prime planes creates the ability for Amazon to create connections between two points that are exactly tailored to their needs and the timing. Contrasted with using other airlines, and therefore utilizing other supply chains, Amazon can optimize their own shipping, rather than depending on another network’s wider optimization.

Amazon still plans on heavily utilizing shippers like FedEx and UPS, but the growth of the company and exponential increase in number of packages they’re shipping has led to this decision to supplement their transportation needs. Prime Air used to simply refer to the infant Amazon Prime drone program, but with the announcement of adding existing supply chain technology to the brand, it seems Amazon will continue to be competitive in markets outside of its core of e-commerce.

 

 

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