Even as Amazon continues to develop its drone delivery system, it's cooked up a new plan to get one- and two-day deliveries to customers on time.
Amazon has reportedly signed a 5- to 7-year deal to lease 20 Boeing 767 planes from Air Transport Services Group, according to Reuters. The planes will only deliver goods in the US, at least for now.
At the moment, Amazon relies on courier companies UPS, which operates around 240 large planes, and FedEx, which has about 370 planes, to ship goods across the States. It uses USPS to ship internationally, though the service relies mostly on FedEx and other contractor fleets.
Self-reliant future
While Amazon's new fleet will only be used to handle deliveries in the US, the etailer could potentially be exploring similar deals across the globe. And this run goes well, it may need to.
Having its own planes means Amazon won't have to rely on couriers nearly as much to deliver packages. This could be especially helpful during the holidays, when delivery systems become slammed.
If anything, between its own truck drivers, plans for future drone package drops and now planes, we're seeing more evidence of Amazon building a completely independent, end-to-end service that offers customers a quick, convenient and reliable shopping option. Why rely on others when you can do it yourself?
The first of Amazon's leased planes is set to go into operation as early as April 1.
