Hawaiian Airlines has commenced operating a second Airbus A330-300 cargo jet for Amazon on a new route between New York’s JFK airport and the retail behemoth’s West Coast air logistics hub in San Bernardino, California, the company reported in quarterly earnings Tuesday.
Under a transportation services agreement that kicked in last year, Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) leases the aircraft from a dealer and transfers them to Hawaiian Airlines (NASDAQ: HA) to fly and provide routine maintenance. Hawaiian, which is branching out to all-cargo operations for the first time, began commercial revenue service for Amazon in early October on a route connecting San Bernardino with Amazon Air’s superhub at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport (CVG).
Amazon plans to acquire 10 A330 converted freighters as replacements for aging Boeing 767-200s operated by other partner airlines. The original schedule called for Hawaiian Airlines to receive eight more freighters this year, but the airline said delivery flow is behind by two aircraft because the airframe repair company responsible for reconfiguring the used passenger jets to carry heavy containers is experiencing production delays. That means Hawaiian will have seven aircraft, instead of nine, in possession by the end of the year, if the current schedule remains intact.
CEO Peter Ingram said Hawaiian may postpone deploying some cargo aircraft that join the fleet this year in order not to add complexity to Amazon’s network during the busiest shipping period.
“I would caution that they may not all be flying by the end of the year because during the peak period our partner doesn’t necessarily want to introduce new lines of flying into the operation,” he said on an earnings briefing with analysts.
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