Drones can wait. Amazon.com is looking into leasing 20 Boeing 767 jets to start its own air-delivery service, according to reports in the Seattle Times and Cargo Facts.
Anonymous cargo-industry sources told the Times that the e-commerce giant is negotiating with aircraft lessors to get access to enough planes and could start the operation by the end of January.
Launching such a service would give Amazon more control over delivery of its products and avoid delays from carriers such as UPS and FedEx, which have struggled to keep up with surging e-commerce demand. Two years ago, carriers were overwhelmed by holiday packages, and many were delivered after Christmas, forcing Amazon to offer gift cards to soothe customer anger.
“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 Times.
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