Amazon chartered a B737 before Christmas which carried out a number of flights between mainland Europe and the UK, CEP-Research understands.
But it is unclear whether this was a move by the online retail giant to test out its own air operation, as media reports suggest, or simply the provision of extra capacity in the run-up to the festive break.
Asked whether Amazon had plans to look after its own air logistics in Europe, a UK-based company spokesperson quoted a brief statement issued last week following a report in UK newspaper, The Evening Standard: “Within our European fulfilment network, we use various carriers with a range of transport methods for distributing and delivering items. This includes air.”
The newspaper report claimed Amazon had operated secret flights, dating back to mid-November, carrying thousands of packages in and out of the UK as it trialled setting up its own air freight business.
It had chartered a Boeing 737 to fly between Poland, the UK and Germany. The plane made five trips a week, flying from Katowice in Poland to Luton, East Midlands or Doncaster airports in the UK and then back to Poland via Kassel in Germany, according to The Evening Standard.
The round trips linked several of Amazon’s biggest fulfilment centres in Europe. Katowice airport is near its two giant warehouses in Wroclaw, while Kassel is the closest airport to Amazon’s two fulfilment centres in Bad Hersfeld, Germany. Amazon’s biggest fulfilment centres in the UK are in Dunfermline (Scotland) and Swansea (Wales) and the closest to London are Milton Keynes and Hemel Hempstead.
Amazon had chartered the plane from German logistics firm DB Schenker and is understood to be looking at extending the trials with further plane charters and taking in centres in Spain and Italy, the report added.
Contacted by CEP-Research, a spokesman for DB Schenker said: "We can’t talk about every customer or contract and we are not commenting on this matter.”
An industry source told CEP-Research that the 'Amazon' B737 had been operated by ASL Aviation France but he could not say whether the aircraft had been chartered for an air operation trial or was just providing supplemental capacity at a time of peak demand. No one was immediately available to comment at ASL Aviation.
A source at London-Luton Airport said that two to three flights from the continent dedicated to Amazon shipments had operated into the airport before Christmas. But he had no information to suggest this was anything more than extra uplift at a busy time for e-commerce.
East Midlands Airport said that given that Amazon was not a direct customer of the airport, it would be unable to confirm whether the e-tailer had flown any freight through the UK Midlands gateway.
Doncaster and Kassel airports had not replied to questions at the time of going to press while no one could be reached at Katowice airport.
The significantly under-used Kassel Airport is located near Amazon’s main German logistics operation in Germany and is geographically situated in the centre of Germany and more or less centrally-positioned in Europe. This could make it an ideal site if Amazon was looking to set up a European air cargo hub, according to observers.
Before Christmas, US media reports claimed Amazon was negotiating to lease 20 B767s, the cornerstone of a project to develop its own cargo operation to avoid delays from carriers such as UPS, who have struggled to keep up with the rapid growth of e-commerce.
“Amazon is pretty fed up with the third-party carriers being a bottleneck to their growth,” Robert W. Baird & Co. analyst, Colin Sebastian, told The Seattle Times. That has led Amazon to consider handling more of its own delivery.
At a FedEx conference call several weeks ago, following the presentation of the company's Q2 results, senior executives were asked to comment on reports that Amazon was planning to establish its own air transportation network.
"It depends what you mean by a network. Virtually every major retailer in the United States today has a dedicated line-haul operation to move inventory between distribution centres and stores and Amazon is certainly no different in that regard,” said FedEx's Executive Vice President, Market Development and Corporate Communications, Mike Glenn. "Amazon is a very large FedEx customer and we work closely with them to optimise delivery needs and create new solutions to support their future growth."
