Amazon Air expanding at CVG, consolidating US activity at 4 hubs

Grown from 44 to 58 daily flights since September 2022, Amazon Air activity at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport (CVG) is rapidly expanding and is gradually consolidating its US activity at four hubs: CVG, Perot Field Fort Worth Alliance Airport, San Bernardino International Airport and Lakeland Linder International Airport says a brief report produced by Chaddick Institute for Metropolitan Development, DePaul University, Chicago on activities of Amazon Air from September 2022 to March 2023.

“Flight scheduling is becoming increasingly similar to FedEx’s and UPS’s largest hub-based operations, with nearly all departures tightly clustered in two intervals: 12:30–2 pm and 2:30–4 am. Such tight departure banks set the stage for a large expansion in plane-to-plane transfers to support next-day delivery,” reads the report.

The analysis draws on publicly available sources of information n, including flightaware.com, flightradar24.com, ArcGIS Pro software, U.S. Census data, FAA and planespotters.net

The brief reports that flight activity on Amazon Air grew by 5.8 percent between August 2022 and March 2023, a modest increase from the 3.8 percent increase in the previous six months.

“Although expansion at CVG and other notable hubs accounted for most of the growth, adding Boise, ID, Mobile, AL, Manchester, NH, San Jose, CA, and new intra-India flying broadened its geographic scope,” it reads.

Amazon recently launched Amazon Air in India and utilises the cargo capacity offered by Quikjet Cargo Airlines, a joint venture between AFL and the Ireland-based ASL Aviation Group.

"The new contractor operates two Boeing 737s, each typically making two or three flights daily. Some depart Delhi at around 2 am, which suggests a role in overnight parcel delivery," it reads.

Amazon Air’s cubic volume of available cargo space is now between one-fourth and one-fifth the size of UPS and approximately one-seventh the size of FedEx. Its capacity as a share of that of these air-cargo integrators has more than doubled since March 2020.

The report analyses, “Its average payload per airplane remains substantially greater than FedEx’s but smaller than UPS’s, mainly due to Amazon Air’s avoidance of planes larger than Boeing 767s. Its average payload, however, will rise once ten Airbus 330-300s enter service.”

Between March 2020 and March 2023, Amazon Air expanded its fleet from 33 to 91 planes, a 175.8 percent increase.

The report also makes some predictions which include relatively slow expansion on the U.S. mainland, tightly clustered arrivals at CVG, the continued buildup of activity at Fort Worth Alliance, Lakeland-Linder, and San Bernardino, expansion of long-haul flights through Hawaiian Air’s deployment of the A330- 300F and accelerated flying within Europe and India.

“Amazon Air is a much different airline than a year ago due to its hub-centric growth strategy and twice-daily clustering of departures at Cincinnati CVG. This airline has become far more than a conduit to support rapid inventory movements across its vast warehouse system,” it reads.

Although a recession could result in strategic shifts and a markedly reduced growth rate, the authors of the report believe that Amazon continues to have compelling reasons to expand its airline.