The company said it's the first time it has purchased planes
for its delivery network. Over the past couple of years, Amazon has been
leasing planes to build its fleet.
“Having a mix of both leased and owned aircraft in our
growing fleet allows us to better manage our operations," said Sarah
Rhoads, vice president of Amazon Global Air, in a blog post.
Seattle-based Amazon has been working to deliver most of its
packages itself and rely less on UPS, the US Postal Service, and other
carriers. Besides its fleet of planes, Amazon has also built several
package-sorting hubs at airports, opened warehouses closer to where shoppers
live, and launched a programme that lets contractors start businesses
delivering packages in vans stamped with the Amazon logo.
Amazon said the 11 planes, all of which are Boeing 767-300s,
will be converted to hold cargo instead of passengers. The four jets that it is
buying from WestJet will join Amazon's fleet this year, and the seven from
Delta will be ready by next year. The purchases will bring its total fleet to
85 planes by 2022.
Amazon declined to say how much it is paying for the planes.
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