Just when you thought there was nothing left that Amazon hasn’t put its hands to, the sell-everything store has now added its own cargo airline to expedite its deliveries and reduce its dependence on Fedex and UPS.
So far, it consists of 40 767F freighters that Amazon is wet-leasing, 20 each from two operators, Atlas Air and Air Transport Services Group. A ‘wet lease’ means that the two companies provide the planes, crew and maintenance, and Amazon controls the schedules, itineraries, etc. And, of course, the paint job, which features Prime Air as the name, Amazon on the belly, and the smile on the tail. The first to fly is tail number N1997A, which, you won’t be surprised to hear, is a prime number.
While it’s a big step, it’s still not in a class with FedEx’s 643 planes or UPS’s 237. But Amazon has another trick up its sleeve which they don’t: it’s moving fairly quickly with developing a practical drone delivery system, also called Prime Air. For more pictures and amusing video, click 
