Amazon's Next Move: Air Cargo Service in Europe?

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Ken James/Bloomberg News
Amazon.com may be considering expanding air cargo operations in Europe as well as the United States, according to a report in London’s Evening Standard newspaper.

The paper reports that the online retail giant “has chartered a Boeing 737 to fly between Poland, the [United Kingdom] and Germany” for the past six weeks to ferry cargo between its warehouses in those countries. On Dec. 17, The Seattle Times reported that Amazon was negotiating to lease 20 Boeing 767 jets for its own air-delivery service, according to cargo-industry executives.

The Evening Standard didn’t disclose from where its information came. But it reported that the Amazon plane had made five trips a week, flying from Katowice in Poland to three U.K. airports. And then the plane returned to Poland via Kassel, Germany. Those airports are all near Amazon warehouses.

The paper reported that Amazon chartered the plane from DB Schenker, the logistics arm of the German railway company, Deutsche Bahn. Amazon is looking at extending the trials in Spain and Italy, according to the paper.

Amazon declined to comment on the report.