In 2016, our first aircraft, “Amazon One,” took to the skies. This was a major milestone in the development of an air cargo network that would enable us to transport customer packages across longer distances in shorter timeframes to continue to keep the promises we made to customers on fast, free deliveries.
Amazon's Airbus A330-300 livery rendering.Fast forward to 2022, we’re still emerging from a global pandemic and evolving our network to continue to meet customer demand. During the past two years, we added more aircraft to our fleet (we have more than 110 in our global network today), launched new facilities including our U.S. air hub at the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport in Hebron, Kentucky and our European air hub at Leipzig/Halle Airport in Germany, and leaned into sustainable initiatives such as electric ground service equipment and sustainable aviation fuel. It was meaningful to reach so many more customers in different parts of the world during a time when many were relying on us to get them what they needed while they lived and worked from home. Now, when I look at our network, I know that we have the structure we need to be nimble when the expected and unexpected, like Hurricane Fiona and Hurricane Ian, occur.
Today, I’m excited to share that we are innovating within Amazon Air again, adding 10 Airbus A330-300s, leased from aircraft lessor, Altavair, to our aircraft fleet. The aircraft are currently undergoing passenger-to-cargo conversion and will be the first A330 freighter conversions to operate in the U.S. when they enter our network in late 2023. At the same time, we’ll also begin phasing out some older aircraft whose tenure are nearing expiration. These A330s will not only be the first of their kind in our fleet, but they’ll also be the newest, largest aircraft for Amazon Air, allowing us to deliver more customer packages with each flight. Additionally, we are bringing on a new partner, Hawaiian Airlines, which will maintain and operate these aircraft on our behalf. This reflects the results they deliver as a renowned airline with their own A330 fleet. We’re thrilled to have these new partners joining us for this next chapter of Amazon Air’s journey, and I can’t wait to watch these birds take flight next year.
At the heart of this exciting update are the people and partners who work across the Amazon Air network–from Amazon associates and leaders across our global sites, to technicians and carrier pilots who maintain and operate our fleet of aircraft. I’m continuously humbled by their work and endless pursuit of excellence on behalf of our customers.
Keep your eyes on the skies—we have so much more in store for Amazon Air, and I can’t wait to share it with you.
Fly Amazon,
Sarah Rhoads
Vice President, Amazon Global Air
Sarah Rhoads
Vice President, Amazon Global Air
