Amazon is tired of counting on third parties to deliver its orders, so it might just take to the air on its own.
The Seattle Times is reporting that the online retail store is in talks to lease out 20 Boeing 767 jets for its own air-delivery service to avoid relying on carriers like the United Parcel Service.
"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.
An aircraft-leasing exec with knowledge of Amazon's negotiations told the Times that the company has spoken with several aircraft cargo companies to line up planes. Some of the companies that Amazon has reportedly spoken with include Air Transport Services Group (ATSG), Atlas Air and Kalitta Air.
A decision on whether Amazon will go ahead with possible plans to handle its own air deliveries is expected by the end of January.
"I believe they are serious about looking at this," the leasing exec, who chose to speak under anonymity, told the Times. "They are not going to hang about."
Adding more legitimacy to the Times' report is Vice's Motherboard's report from last month, claiming Amazon has been testing an air cargo operation under the working code name of "Aerosmith" in Wilmington, Ohio. since September. That operation is being overseen by the Air Transport Services Group aviation company in Ohio.
