The move to flying its own parcels around Europe echoes the firm’s strategy in the US, where it is reportedly negotiating to lease as many as 20 Boeing 767s after successful air trials in Wilmington, Ohio.
News that Amazon is building an air cargo business will be a blow to traditional air freight carriers such as UPS, DHL and FedEx, which have traditionally carried the bulk of its intra-continental business.
“Amazon is pretty fed up with the third-party carriers being a bottleneck to their growth,” said Colin Sebastian, an analyst at Robert W Baird.
Amazon is reportedly easing its ties with shipping firm UPS (Picture: Reuters)
John Sommers II/Reuters
Moving into air freight would be a logical step following on from Amazon’s build-up this year of its own fleet of delivery vans and couriers in the UK
It has moved to secure more of its own distribution network after one of its carriers, CityLink, went bust last Christmas.
Asked about the aircraft charter in Europe, an Amazon spokesman said: “Within our European fulfilment network, we use various carriers with a range of transport methods for distributing and delivering items. This includes air.”
