Nov. 4 — Amazon Air, the 5-year-old air cargo division of the Seattle-based e-commerce giant, started daily flights this week from Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport as part of a national expansion by Amazon to build an air cargo network that will compete with the likes of FedEx, DHL and UPS.
An Amazon spokesperson said Amazon Air will fly once a day into New Orleans from a variety of the 40 airports around the country where it currently operates. That includes its only regional hub so far, at Fort Worth Alliance Airport where it started operating last year.
The flights out of New Orleans will use existing airport staff for handling and are not expected to create any new jobs for Amazon or the airport in the near future, the Amazon spokesperson said.
The new flights are a modest bit of good news for the New Orleans airport, which last month reported that passenger traffic was down by nearly 60% in August, compared with the same month last year before it opened its $1 billion new terminal in November 2019.
"Despite the sharp 58% reduction in commercial passenger activity year-to-date through August due to the pandemic, we have seen total freight tonnage grow by 4.1% among cargo freight airlines during that same period as more and more consumers shop from home," said Kevin Dolliole, director of aviation at New Orleans airport.
Cargo operations at New Orleans ranks 73rd nationally, with the airport handling about 390 million pounds of cargo in 2019, up 4.5% from the previous year, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. That compares with Memphis International, the nation's top air cargo hub and FedEx's home base, handling more than 24 billion pounds of cargo last year.
"Air cargo development is a top priority for our team, and we are thrilled that Amazon Air recognizes the growing demand in the New Orleans region by launching daily cargo service," Dolliole added.
The airport also is a gateway for FedEx, DHL and UPS.
New Orleans airport doesn't separate out cargo revenue in its regular reports, but overall landing and apron fees year-to-date through August were down about 31% at $990,000. The bulk of revenue comes from airlines' terminal building fees, concessions at the terminal and items like parking, which in total was down by more than half at about $3.6 million.
The addition of New Orleans as one of its "gateways" is part of a broad expansion to accommodate Amazon's growth, which has come even amid the pandemic as online shopping has been turbo-charged by the rolling stay-at-home orders and other curtailments since March.
Amazon reported last week that third-quarter net sales grew annually by 37% to more than $96 billion. Underlying the reasons for the drive to build its own delivery network, the company also reported that shipping costs grew 57% to more than $15 billion.
Amazon Air is currently building a $1.5 billion facility at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport that is due to open next year and will serve as the company's national hub.
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