By Ian McMurtry
Wichita Lands Amazon Flights Via Silver Airways
Amazon Air continues to grow as the airline has once again called on one of its operators to begin service to Wichita’s Dwight D. Eisenhower National Airport. The airport saw the first Silver Airways ATR 72-500F make an arrival into the quiet Midwest airport on Thursday, with the airline touching down at 1:03 am and departing back to its origin at 5:15 am.
Amazon Air is utilizing a focus city in Fort Worth Alliance to link the cities, relying on Silver’s fleet of 5 ATRs to connect the Kansan and Texan cities. Silver has been performing services for Amazon since November 12th, utilizing an ATR fleet that mirrors that of its commercial operations based out of Florida. The newest aircraft type to the airline comes from picking up used aircraft, with the previous operators ranging from Air Corsica to Aurigny Air Services with aircraft ages spanning 12 to 18 years.
Amazon Air’s fleet now rests at 95 aircraft operating at nine different operators. The two-day delivery marketed firm has 26 Boeing 737-800BCFs spread across Atlas Air, Sun Country Airlines and ASL Airlines Ireland, 12 Boeing 767-200s spread evenly with Air Transport International and ABX Air, and 54 Boeing 767-300ER(BCF)s with 33 at Air Transport International, 19 with Atlas Air and 2 with Canadian carrier Cargojet. Silver is the lone ATR operator.
“This is an exciting expansion for Amazon Air that will provide greater capacity for shipping packages to our valued customers throughout the Wichita area and Central Kansas. We are thrilled with Amazon’s continued investment in Kansas and look forward to continued growth to meet our customer demands,” noted Amazon Air Gateway Operations Director Chris Preston.
Amazon Air will rely on Trego-Dugan Aviation to do the loading and unloading of the cargo planes for the express-delivery company in Wichita. The aviation company leased 10,691 square feet of space in the airport’s air cargo building to perform operations. Amazon Air will share the cargo ramp with fellow package haulers FedEx, UPS and DHL, who all operate a mix of aircraft ranging from the Airbus A300 to the Cessna 208 Grand Caravan. An icing pad has also been made available for Amazon Air, with the Silver-operated planes using 1,470 square feet of room to PrimeFlight Aviation for deicing services.
The Wichita-Ft. Worth route is not new for either city, as FedEx Feeder carrier Empire Airlines has its own ATR 72F that operates between the two cities for the airline. From Ft. Worth, Amazon packages will have access to flights to 11 additional Amazon Air destinations by air as well as access to the eCommerce company’s expansive ground transportation network.
But that’s not saying that the company doesn’t have access to the said network already, Amazon has been rapidly expanding in the “Aviation Capital of the World.” The company has already invested $4 billion in the region over the last decade and created 8,000 jobs for workers for local Kansans. As a result, Amazon has constructed two buildings in the area, a 140,000 square foot delivery station in northeast Wichita as well as a one million square foot fulfillment center in the suburban town of Park City. The city notes that Amazon’s investments have created $3 billion to the GDP for Kansas and this growth is continuously beneficial for more than just Wichita but all of rural Kansas.
Wichita Airport Authority’s Director of Airports Jesse Romo welcomed the additional cargo service, saying, “we are proud to welcome Amazon Air to Wichita Eisenhower Airport. This location is uniquely positioned with convenient access to Highway 54/400 and Interstate 235 to support Amazon’s deliveries to customers in Kansas and surrounding areas.”
Although Ian McMurtry was never originally an avgeek, he did enjoy watching US Airways aircraft across western Pennsylvania in the early 2000s. He lived along the Pennsylvania Railroad and took a liking to trains but a change of scenery in the mid-2000s saw him shift more of an interest into aviation. He would eventually express this passion by taking flying lessons in mid-Missouri and joining AirlineGeeks in 2013. Now living in Wichita, Kansas, Ian is in college majoring in aerospace engineering and minoring in business administration at Wichita State University.
