Amazon Air accelerates cargo fleet expansion

Amazon Air added nine new planes to its fleet between May and July of this year, the most it has ever added in a three-month time span.

The company now has about 70 planes, up from around 50 in February 2019. It's expected to have a fleet of more than 80 by 2021.

A report by DePaul University’s Chaddick Institute for Metropolitan Development noted that Amazon Air is expanding rapidly despite the period otherwise being marked by year-on-year declines in air cargo traffic.

Like other e-commerce and parcel delivery companies, Amazon has faced a surge in demand during the coronavirus pandemic, as more people are making online orders and residential deliveries have multiplied.

Amazon Air has a way to go yet before it matches its prospective rivals FedEx and UPS, who operate 463 and 275 planes respectively—but it's drawn up very close to DHL, whose fleet has 77 planes, as of May 2020.

Source: CNBC

Header image: Taylor Van Riper