Amazon Air, Multi-Sided Marketplaces, and the Post-COVID19 Global Consumption Network

Keywords: Amazon Air, multi-sided marketplace, FedEx Express, UPS Airlines, network analysis, COVID19
Session Type: Virtual Paper Abstract
Day: Saturday
Session Start / End Time: 2/26/2022 05:20 PM (Eastern Time (US & Canada)) - 2/26/2022 06:40 PM (Eastern Time (US & Canada))
Room: Virtual 11

Abstract

In this paper, Amazon Air growth since its formation in 2016 is related to the emergence of Amazon as one of the largest of the multi-sided marketplaces, a group that also includes Alibaba, JD.com, Rakuten, eBay, and MercadoLibre. Amazon Air was created partly to reduce Amazon's dependence on FedEx and UPS; and using data on 12 months of operations, the new airline's network is contrasted to the domestic networks of FedEx Express and UPS Airlines. Amazon Air has a lower network density than the other two airlines and is more strongly related to Amazon's distribution centers. Like UPS and FedEx, Amazon has placed its main hub at a location in the central US: first Wilmington, Ohio and more recently Cincinnati. The acceleration of online retail trade since the onset of the COVID19 pandemic may encourage other digitally native or incumbent retail firms to develop their own air distribution networks. The criteria that distinguish Amazon Air's key hubs are identified and then those criteria are applied to all public US airports to detect others that might be suitable for incorporation into a retail distribution air network. Implications for other world regions are also assessed.