Amazon Air has experienced unprecedented growth this year, expanding its fleet by an additional 12 freighters and ramping its flight activity to over 100 daily flights since May 2020.
An analysis released by Chaddick Institute for Metropolitan Development said that the cargo airline grew its fleet size by 29% since the end of spring. At the same time, Amazon Air performed 108 daily flights on August 20, 2020, in contrast to 85 on April 23 of the same year.
New aircraft and flight activity combined suggests that the company’s flights have expanded by more than 30% since April 2020. The carrier has also registered its very first Boeing 767-300 on August 31, 2020.
The numbers are only suiting seeing as Amazon announced $5.2 billion in net income in Q2 FY20, a 50% increase since the same quarter in the preceding year. The company’s sales have reportedly ramped up by 40% since last year as well.
The growing demand caused by mandatory social distancing and quarantine restrictions only helped to improve Amazon’s financial standing. At the same time, the aviation industry was faced with a sudden drop in flight belly capacity, making the company more inclined to focus on expanding its own fleet.
The analysis also shows robust growth in the cargo carrier’s domestic network of hubs with John F. Kennedy Airport (JFK) and Florida’s Lakeland Linder Regional Airport (LAL) expanding the most.
However, Amazon Air’s airport bases in Amsterdam and Shanghai have not received much attention in terms of in-house delivery system upgrades. According to the report, this shows that the company is not yet looking to expand outside of the US walls.