Amazon Air adds gateways at Toledo, Fairbanks airports

Amazon Air has begun flying to two new gateways this week, using its 737 freighters operated by Sun Country Airlines to add Eugene F. Kranz Toledo Express Airport (TOL) and Fairbanks International Airport (FAI) to its network. [caption id="attachment_94510" align="alignright" width="450"] Amazon 737 freighter. Photo/Amazon[/caption] The first Amazon flight arrived at TOL on the night of March 17, from Florida’s Lakeland Linder International Airport (LAL) , and departed early Thursday morning. The first FAI flight arrived Thursday evening from Portland International Airport (PDX) and departed later that night, according to flight-tracking software. Both new gateways will see daily service from Amazon Air. The TOL service may eventually expand to multiple flights per day, as TOL’s interstate connectivity to Michigan and Indiana, as well as within Ohio, supports e-commerce fulfillment needs for the region, Thomas Winston, the president and CEO of Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority, told Air Cargo World. At FAI, Amazon Air will operate to the airport, where package sorting will take place, before cargo is distributed to third-party regional carriers operating to more remote areas and villages in Alaska, Melissa Stepovich, communications and marketing director at FAI, told Air Cargo World . Package sorting on Amazon’s behalf will be handled by its logistics partners at the airports; Pinnacle Logistics will handle TOL and Naniq Global Logistics, FAI. In Toledo’s case, Pinnacle is a new service operator at the airport, but has provided similar services for Amazon at other locations , said Joe Cappel, the port authority’s vice president of business development. Pinnacle will utilize a recently renovated 65,000-square-foot facility owned by the Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority for the new operation. Renovations made to the facility in recent months include the installation of 20 LED high mast ramp lights, resurfacing and LED lighting of the facility’s parking lot, reconfigured gates and fencing, and construction of additional truck docks, according to a release from the port authority. TOL has a history of airfreight operations with both DHL and BAX Global, but scheduled cargo service virtually ended when TOL’s agreement with DHL expired around 2015, Winston said. BAX Global’s freight operations ended around 2011 with the acquisition and integration of its business into DB Schenker. However, air charter and fixed-base operator (FBO) services provider Grand Aire charters cargo flights into TOL in support of nearby industries, Cappel said. “A lot of the cargo handled at TOL goes to the automotive industry, for example, but also things like human organs — anything that’s time-sensitive tends to fly through Toledo,” Cappel said of the airport’s charter operations. TOL will aim to continue growing its scheduled cargo operations, Winston said, and for now will continue to focus on the new and growing Amazon Air service.

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Amazon Air adds gateways at Toledo, Fairbanks airports

New daily scheduled services use Sun Country-operated 737Fs

Consultant Insight: US-Mexico cross-border trade struggles, but signs of improvement emerge

First Class mail to take extra day under Postal Service plan

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