This Jet Airways 737 now will fly Amazon packages across the USA

In its past life, Boeing’s MSN 32663 was in the service of Jet Airways for over 14 years as VT-JGE. Then, in December 2018, it was turned over back to GECAS, the owner of the aircraft, voluntarily, much before the airline had to give up on their planes. From there, the aircraft made its way to Shanghai, where, over the past few months, it was refitted as a freighter aircraft.

Last week, at the Paris Airshow 2019, it made its first public appearance, as Prime Air, the cargo airline that is operated for Amazon to ensure your packages can reach wherever, at the committed time.

Prime Air

I thought it would be a cool idea to get on board and check out what is the whole deal about. The aircraft had its passenger configuration, including all the seats ripped apart and converted for cargo operations at the cost of US$ 5 Million. The aircraft has a folding cargo door to push in and remove cargo pallets for transport.

an airplane with an open door

an open airplane door

In the front of the plane, there are the only 4 passenger seats that can be used to move four people around.

a white and black room with a door and a window

Boeing also said four people could be brought in the cockpit, including the two pilots for the plane.

the inside of an airplane

And right at the back is the container unit where the pallets are stored. Like you can see on the wall, there is a map of how to organise the pallets in the container section.

a large white tunnel with blue lights

I asked what was being done with the belly of the plane, where the transport of cargo used to be done earlier. The Boeing representative told me it would still be used for Cargo, except there would be no containers going in there but just small packages. In total, 23 tonnes of cargo can be moved by this plane in one go.

Boeing said the transformation of the plane from a Passenger Jet to a Boeing Converted Freighter takes 90 days. These conversions are usually going to be performed on jets which are about 15-20 year old, and could give another 20 years of usable life out of these aircraft.

Amazon operates a whole fleet of aircraft under Prime Air, and this one is due to join the fleet anytime soon, now that the Paris Airshow is over.

It was quite fascinating to get inside this aircraft to see the scale of Amazon’s ambition with the Prime Air programme.

About Ajay

Ajay Awtaney is the Founder and Editor of Live From A Lounge (LFAL), a pioneering digital platform renowned for publishing news and views about aviation, hotels, passenger experience, loyalty programs, travel trends and frequent travel tips for the Global Indian. He is considered the Indian authority on business travel, luxury travel, frequent flyer miles, loyalty credit cards and travel for Indians around the globe. Ajay is a frequent contributor and commentator on the media as well, including ET Now, BBC, CNBC TV18, NDTV, Conde Nast Traveller and many other outlets.

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Comments

  1. @Karan: It should read as pallets and not pellets. Cargo is moved on wooden or plastic pallets. Do delete this comment post correction

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