Amazon Brings Air Cargo Network ‘Amazon Air’ To India

SUMMARY

Talking to Inc42, an Amazon India executive said that the company is not looking at any payback from the launch

Amazon is looking at improving convenience for its Prime customers with the launch of Amazon Air

Amazon Air will not be used by any third-party sellers or D2C brands

Amazon India has launched its dedicated cargo fleet Amazon Air for Prime users in the country to offer faster deliveries.

Amazon Air, first launched in the US in 2016, operates an air cargo network that has grown to include more than 110 aircraft and more than 70 destinations worldwide.

Talking to Inc42 about the launch of the cargo fleet, Abhinav Singh, director, Customer Fulfilment, Supply Chain & Amazon Transportation Services, Amazon India, said, “Amazon Air will work towards maintaining and improving the speed experience of Prime customers, and also to augment the capacity when the capacity is constrained.”

Singh said that Amazon Air has been designed and launched to enable faster deliveries for Prime customers when there is a low capacity for speedy deliveries, for example during festive season or if there are any other constraints.

However, he refused to share the number of Prime customers in India.

Singh said that the ecommerce company is not looking at payback from the launch of Amazon Air. The service has been launched to improve convenience for customers, thereby increasing the number of Prime customers and eventually getting more orders on the platform.

“We always look at it from our core flywheel which is about price, convenience and selection. And one of the biggest enablers of convenience for customers is fast delivery. This helps in augmenting our ability to deliver fast to our customers. So, over a period of time as we keep improving the Prime customer experience, more and more people will become Prime customers, more and more people will want to order from us, so our flywheel will spin faster. We never look at it as a linear equation, that this investment should get us X customers,” he added.

Amazon Air To Start With Four Cities

Amazon India will utilise the complete cargo capacity of a Boeing 737-800 aircraft, which will be operated by Quikjet Cargo Airlines, to provide faster deliveries to its customers.

Amazon is not targeting any specific locations with Amazon Air, and will keep changing the cities which the aircraft will serve depending on changes in customer demand patterns or with the expansion of its network. For now, Amazon Air will cover four cities – Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, and Mumbai.

However, rejecting reports of Amazon Air supporting third-party sellers or D2C brands, Singh said there are no such plans for now and the service will only be used to fulfil the needs of the ecommerce firm’s customers.

“Lot of the infrastructure for the aircraft is already available in India from cargo terminals point of view, and we will be using that public infrastructure in partnership with our partners, which is Quickjet, and our ground handling partners. In terms of sortation networks, or delivery stations, fulfilment centres – that network already exists. We will continue to double down on that network. But there is not any hub infrastructure that we’ve built for this aircraft,” he said.

Amazon India has reportedly invested INR 400 Cr for setting up the dedicated cargo fleet in India. However, the company refused to comment on this.

The launch of Amazon Air comes at a time when the US-based company has also resorted to layoffs, like many other tech companies, to cut costs. While Amazon announced laying off 18,000 employees globally, the job cuts would primarily impact tech, HR and Prime teams in India.