Aircraft to be Operated by Hawaiian Airlines as Freighter Conversions

Amazon is stepping its air cargo service up a notch with a firm agreement to lease 10 A330-300P2F freighters from Altavair. 

The aircraft will go towards bolstering Amazon's 1-day Prime delivery goal for participating customers, among other cargo commitments. The expansion comes as little surprise to those familiar with Amazon operations, given rumors of slackening time windows for some areas as the wider logistics chain suffered under increased load and delay. The A330’s capacity and economics to help fulfill Prime's promises, according to one exec. 

“We’re thrilled to welcome Airbus to our Amazon Air fleet,” said Philippe Karam, Director, Amazon Global Air Fleet & Sourcing. “These A330-300s will not only be the first of their kind in our fleet, they’ll also be the newest, largest aircraft for Amazon Air, allowing us to deliver more customer packages with each flight.”

The aircraft will be converted from passenger aircraft to freighters by Elbe Flugzeugwerke GmbH (EFW), a company Airbus refers to as the "centre of excellence for Airbus Passenger-to-Freighter (P2F) conversions". The aircraft will be operated for Amazon by Hawaiian Airlines, which has had A330s as a core element of its fleet since 2010. The Amazon Air transports will come online in the brand's fleet in late 2023. 

"The endorsement of our freighters by Amazon speaks volumes about the market value of the A330 and the position Airbus wide-bodies are gaining in the cargo market,” said Christian Scherer, Airbus Chief Commercial Officer and Head of Airbus International. “Amazon has built a reputation around delivering their goods to our doorsteps with extraordinary speed and consistency, and we’re very proud that our aircraft are trusted to become a key link in that remarkable logistics chain.”

FMI: www.airbus.com, www.amazon.com