point432

Heard that Bezooos’ ground breaking ceremony was a little staged. What would have made it cooler is if he CGI’d himself into the press conference.


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Globemaster2827

True, but they're also bending metal. The Captains leave immediately. They can't staff the 737s. The last time I saw a list they were having to staff the 767 CA spots with 747 FOs. I'm not convinced they'll be insurable if they continue with all that.

I think in 2 years they won't be able to staff anything... Even the 747.

PurpleToolBox

Can you please explain why?

JonnyKnoxville

In the ever growing air freight market, there is room for Amazon to join UPS and FedEx without ruining the party. For those following closely, the scope and scale of what Amazon is trying to accomplish is nothing short of amazing. The only thing that threatens stopping this freight train will be the U.S. Government and the Sherman Anti-trust Act.

PurpleToolBox

As an employee of FedEx Express, I would be a liar if I said Amazon's decision to start moving their own goods doesn't concern me. However, allow me to be the naysayer. I don't believe anything Amazon is doing is anything "short of amazing." How so?

Walmart is going head to head with Amazon. Walmart has been way up and beat sales forecast and the market's expectations where Amazon is sort of at a peak and has slowed. I am not an Amazon subscriber but I increasingly and anecdotally hear people say "Amazon isn't the cheapest anymore" ... there's also a lot of people saying they need to get Prime deliveries on time before they start committing to one day shipping. In short, Walmart is rapidly becoming more like Amazon, and Amazon is rapidly becoming more like Walmart. So why should FedEx be worried? I don't know.

E-commerce makes up only 12% of the total logistics in the world. Amazon, in the USA, makes up half of that, but not worldwide. FedEx's largest customer makes up no more than 3% of revenue. Amazon, per Fred Smith's admission is only 1.3% of FedEx's revenue. Yet, FedEx is growing because the increase in not only from its core businesses but also in the growing e-commerce sector (not from Amazon).

Amazon leasing some planes doesn't seem to be a threat to Fedex when you start to understand what FedEx is hauling and what Amazon is hauling. However, should Amazon start wanting to deliver other companies and other peoples' goods/freight/cargo (not Amazon boxes), that could be an issue. But why would they want to do that? To subsidize their own costs? Perhaps. They're already having trouble moving their own goods. Why take on the burden to move others' stuff at risk or slowing or disrupting your core business?

Additionally, Amazon's leasing of airplanes from multiple companies who have extreme labor and contract issues doesn't exactly describe an efficient and on-time operation. If they can't fill the cockpits now, how can they expect to fill 60 more planes?

Globemaster2827

FedEx is supposed to have 160 767s in a few years and that's one airplane. To squeeze us out of the market they'd have to be hauling all of their own freight and cut into the 98% of our cargo that isn't theirs... They'd need another 200 airplanes AND pilots willing to fly them at 40% of the compensation for almost twice the work.

To be honest, Bezos would do better to just buy FedEx or UPS but he is insistent on going with Prime Air... He's gonna have decades of growing pains even if he does pay his labor.

Agree 100%.

atpcliff

Maybe PrimeAir will be a number of different air carriers that are purchased by Amazon, and various existing ground carriers working with Amazon, like DHL is now.

G550Guy

And that sir.... is exactly what is going to stop Bezos right in his tracks. The government will never let him build a controlling stake in the logistical engine that drives Americana.

Amazon doesn’t have far to go before regulators step in. He’s free to deliver his own packages, but he won’t put FedEx or UPS out of business by taking their customers.



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JonnyKnoxville

I am not sure anyone thinks he will put FedEx or UPS out of business. Honestly, at this point, I think Bezos stands a much better chance of indirectly causing more aircraft accidents and having the whole Amazon Air experiment shut down on him.

Giving pilots the warehouse treatment can end up with disasterous results.

Tango Uniform

Well said. Amazons competitors won’t be using Amazon to deliver their freight. Amazon isn’t the cheapest out there.

I do have a concern though with how they treat labor. Seeing some of the posts here regarding pay for pilots is concerning. The carriers for Amazon are driving down the industry.