Amazon expects its air fleet to be 70 planes by 2021

Amazon will lease 15 more 737-800 cargo aircraft made by Boeing through a partnership with General Electric Capital Aviation Services, according to comments made by the e-commerce giant at the Paris Air Show, and first reported by Air Cargo News.

The order adds to the five Boeing 737-800 planes Amazon has already leased from the same partners and announced earlier this year. When delivered, Amazon will have a fleet of 70 aircraft to better carry out its shipping operations.

“These new aircraft create additional capacity for Amazon Air, building on the investment in our Prime Free One-Day program,” said Dave Clark, senior vice president of worldwide operations at Amazon.

Amazon launched its air operations in 2016 to support package delivery for its growing Prime memberships, now expected to be more than 100 million people in the U.S.

Amazon’s fleet is operated by ATSG and Atlas Air. Southern Air, an Atlas subsidiary, was chosen to operate the five planes ordered earlier this year. Amazon has not yet said who will operate the next 15 aircraft.

Amazon said it uses advanced algorithms and software for capacity and route planning so that Amazon Air operation can transport hundreds of thousands of packages per day.

Later this year, Amazon will open new air facilities in Fort Worth, Texas, Wilmington, Del., and Chicago. Next year, the company will open its main air hub at the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky Regional Airport.