Originally Posted by wjcandee

No. That's DHL.

The linked article to the Points Guy, and the "study" mentioned therein, are both completely-clueless, replete with errors.

Example: Amazon is "dry-leasing from carriers Atlas and Southern". Really? Amazon is dry-leasing 19 767-300s not from Atlas, but rather from AAWW subsidiary Titan/Andromeda. They're not dry-leasing from the carrier. Moreover, the 737s are dry-leased from GECAS, not Southern, but a few of them are operated by Southern under a CMI agreement, with the rest operated by Sun Country as a result of Southern not performing to expectation. These distinctions are actually important in understanding the business model. And the reality is that at Amazon's miniscule cost-of-capital, it makes no sense to lease unless you don't have the expertise to do aircraft selection, price-negotiation, and conversion-monitoring yourself. At this point, it's a fair bet that Amazon does. Since the dry-leases don't tie Amazon to any one carrier to operate them (as the movement of 2 aircraft from Atlas when it wasn't performing proves), the Points Guy's lack of understanding of the actual business model makes it seem to him/her that Amazon buying its own aircraft is some kind of big deal when it really isn't. Locking yourself into a ten-year unbreakable lease for an asset is the same kind of financial commitment that buying it is, with only a little-more flexibility. And it ain't worth the more-than-1-percent difference in what Amazon pays as an interest rate to borrow money, compared what AAWW and ATSG pay, to have that flexibility.

Example: The "study" points out that Amazon runs more point-to-point flights than FedEx and UPS. Duh. The "study" authors just figured this out? Hello: Amazon HAS TO run mostly point-to-point. Until the CVG hub opens, they have no sorting ability besides the long-maxed-out DHL sort and their ILN mini-sort, which is plainly an experience-builder for when they open CVG. Once CVG opens, I expect that we will see significant changes in the operation of the fleet.

And who says that all the planes that Amazon is buying are for operation within the US?

It's certainly significant that Amazon's fleet will likely grow by at least 22 aircraft in 2021 (11 dry-leases from ATSG and the 11 that Amazon has now purchased from Westjet and DL), assuming that the purchased aircraft will all be converted in 2021. (But at least most of them can be, so they will be. In fact, Amazon is pushing to accelerate the onboarding of at least some of the 5 ATSG/CAM aircraft now scheduled for delivery in 1Q 2021, and likely the 6 that were to come from CAM in the balance of 2021.)