Amazon Leases 20 Jets to Build Out Logistics Network

Amazon is taking to the skies.

Left: The Amazon logistics center in Lauwin-Planque, northern France, on Sept. 19, 2013. (AP Photo/Michel Spingler) Right: Engines on the Boeing 747-8 Freighter are started just prior to the plane's first flight, in Everett, Wash., Feb. 8, 2010. AP Photo/Ted. S Warren

NEW YORK—Amazon is taking to the skies.

The e-commerce powerhouse has finalized an agreement to lease 20 Boeing jets from Air Transport Services Group Inc. as it builds out its U.S. delivery capabilities.

Amazon has been investing heavily in its shipping infrastructure, adding sorting centers, which sort packages by zip code and deliver them to post offices. And it has started to roll out thousands of trucks to speed up package delivery from its warehouses to the sorting centers.

Amazon says the goal is not to compete with package delivery carriers such as FedEx Corp. and UPS but work on improving its own logistics to offer faster delivery for customers as well as providing shipping services for third-party sellers on the site, a service called Fulfilled by Amazon. Amazon’s $99 annual Prime loyalty program offers free two-day shipping on many items.

Amazon.com employees organize outbound packages at an Amazon.com Fulfillment Center on "Cyber Monday" the busiest online shopping day of the holiday season in Phoenix on Dec. 2, 2013. AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin