Amazon announced the opening of an air hub operations at the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport (CVG).
This $1.5 billion in Northern Kentucky will serve as the central hub for Amazon Air’s U.S. cargo network investment, facilitating the rapid transport of customer packages across the country. The 800,000-square-foot sortation building is built over a 600-acre campus that features a ramp for aircraft parking, and a multi-story vehicle parking structure. The sortation facility is equipped with the innovative use of robotics technology that helps move and sort packages—including robotic arms and mobile drive units that transport packages across the building.
The company invested in buying 11 new airplanes earlier this year. In April 2021, Amazon had over 70 planes working as a part of its transportation and logistics network, according to a press release.
Jeff Bezos also tweeted that the hub would help customers get packages faster when the company broke ground on the site. Millions of customer packages will be processed per week at the over 600-acre campus, he said.
Vice President of Amazon Global Air, Sarah Rhoads, said, “We’re excited to get rolling in Northern Kentucky, and we’re thrilled to employ thousands of fantastic people from the area in this next-generation, highly sophisticated facility that will connect our air cargo network for years to come.”
The building will also feature a solar rooftop and all energy generated from the panels will feed directly into the electrical grid of the local community. “The Amazon Air Hub at the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport will make Kentucky the undisputed national leader in air cargo,” said Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear. “In addition to creating thousands of direct and indirect jobs, this hub puts Kentucky at the center of Amazon’s U.S. distribution network. Across the coming years, Amazon Air will help attract more manufacturers, service providers, and tech companies to Kentucky seeking to take similar advantage of our key geographic location. Congratulations and thanks to Amazon for this monumental investment in our state and workforce. We look forward to continuing the commonwealth’s longstanding and successful partnership with Amazon for decades to come.”
This $1.5 billion investment in Northern Kentucky will eventually create thousands of jobs for people from various backgrounds, including load planning, management of package sortation, and robotics technology. All regular, full-time employees will have access to Amazon’s industry-leading wages of up to $19.50 per hour; comprehensive benefits including medical, vision, and dental; and a 401(k) beginning on day one.
Amazon Air continues to expand globally to meet the needs of its growing customer base. Amazon Air has expanded its presence in the U.S. to more than 40 locations and launched its European air hub in 2020 at Germany’s Leipzig/Halle Airport.
Amazon stopped utilizing the services of FedEx in 2019 for transportation of its packages. This massive investment in the air hub facility shows that Amazon is ready to take full control over the supply logistics of its business.
