Amazon launches 'Prime Air' with a cargo plane, not a drone
Amazon One is the first of 40 planes it plans to lease over the next couple of years.
The first time we heard about Prime Air it was emblazoned on drones Jeff Bezos showed off for 60 Minutes in 2013. Now Amazon is revealing the logo on a flying machine that operates on a much larger scale. Amazon One is just one of its 11 dedicated planes, and the Boeing 767-300 will be flying this weekend at a Seattle airshow. The company says that maintaining its own air cargo network -- the planes are leased from shipping partners, with plans to expand to 40 over the next couple of years -- will help it keep shipping speeds up.
While we're still waiting to hear more about those delivery drones, Amazon has made several moves to take control over other steps in the delivery process. The mega-retailer is getting involved in oceanic freight shipping, and rolled out thousands of Amazon-branded semi-trailers at the end of last year, around the same time rumors that it would lease jets started popping up.
