Amazon is going to lease aircraft to keep air transport in its own hands. The US company has submitted an order for twenty Boeing 767 aircraft. By leasing the planes, Amazon wants to become less dependent on other logistics companies for transporting orders.
The etail giant now frequently uses companies such as UPS and FedEx, but wants to reduce this use. Especially during busy periods, deliveries via such carriers often cause delays that Amazon does not want. Amazon will use the planes when orders need to be delivered in a hurry. For instance, if it needs to deliver within one or two days.
Deal is around
Amazon will lease aircraft from US company Air Transport Services Group (ATSG), which specialises in aircraft leasing. The deal has been several months in the making, as the parties had been in talks since the summer. Now that the partnership is a reality, ATSG CEO Joe Hete says he is delighted with the collaboration: "We are delighted to be able to help Amazon's customers with additional air cargo capacity and logistics support to enable fast delivery times." The contracts signed by the two US-based companies run for five to seven years. In addition to the lease, Amazon has also negotiated that the company may buy an estimated 20 per cent of the shares of the leasing company over the next year. In doing so, the retailer has agreed on a fixed amount of $9.73 per share.
Own management
Next month, the first planes with parcels on board will already take off. This is not the first time that Amazon prefers to keep the logistics process in its own hands. It was also recently announced that Amazonin Englanddelivers a large part of its parcels itself.
Editorial LogistiekProfs
