Amazon Air Crash arrives in a context of rapid expansion thanks to its contractual carrier Atlas

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Amazon.com boxes are displayed stacked near an Amazon Boeing 767 — The Amazon.com boxes are mounted stacked near a Boeing 767 Amazon Prime Air cargo plane on August 4, 2016 in a Boeing hangar in Seattle when Amazon unveiled its first branded cargo plane. In 2017, he changed the name of his air cargo branch toASSOCIATED PRESS

The boom in e-commerce has boosted cargo carrier Atlas Air, one of two subcontractors to Amazon's nascent air delivery operation, Amazon Air. But Atlas's rapid growth is due to labor disputes among its pilots, who claim that substandard wages and working conditions have resulted in high turnover and difficult operations.

Since 2010, Atlas Air's fleet has grown from 29 to 112 aircraft, including 51 Boeing 747s, making it the world's largest jet operator. Nearly a quarter of its fleet growth has been served by Amazon. Over the last two years, the New York-based company, Purchase, has added 20 Boeing 767 freighters sporting the colors of the livery of Amazon.

On Saturday afternoon, one of those 767s crashed at the Houston approach from Miami; the three on board are supposed to be dead. The cause is not clear. Flight 3591 plunged into a swampy area of Trinity Bay, nose first, eyewitnesses would have told the police. During the last minute of flight, the 26 – year – old aircraft quickly descended from an altitude of 6,000 feet, according to FlightRadar data.

It seems to be the first fatal accident for Atlas Air. The carrier has already had two irreparable damaged aircraft in accidents, according to incident reports compiled by the aviation safety network: In 2008, a poorly secured cargo crossed a bulkhead in a 747 takeoff from Lomé airport in Togo, and in 2005, a 747 skidded on a snowy track while landing in Düsseldorf, Germany. & nbsp;

Atlas was founded in 1992 by Michael Chowdry, a Pakistani immigrant based in the United States, who made him a major freight and passenger carrier. The company provided Chowdry with a fortune of $ 920 million and a place on the Forbes 400 before his death. in 2001 at 46 in an accident while he was driving a Czech jet trainer L-39.

Since 2006, Atlas is led by CEO William J. Flynn, who sought to transform the company to capitalize on e-commerce. According to the International Air Transport Association, the tonnage of air cargo has increased by about 4% per year since 2013, but the growth of the express delivery market far exceeds that of this market. According to Atlas, the volumes of the three UPS, FedEx and DHL courier companies have grown 7 percent per year since 2011, with e-commerce sales growing 23 percent a year over the same period. & nbsp;

Flynn grew strongly in this market in 2016 with the acquisition of Southern Air in 2016, a contract carrier with 10 aircraft serving DHL, and the inking of its partnership with Amazon. About half of Atlas's fleet now serves express mail and e-commerce customers, compared to six aircraft ten years ago.

Revenues increased 24% to a record $ 2.7 billion in 2018 and net income increased 21% to $ 270 million.

The growth was made in a climate of disagreement with its pilots, with whom it is mired in contractual negotiations since 2016 and who organized demonstrations in front of the headquarters of Amazon.

In November 2017, Atlas convinced a federal court to ban its pilots from slowing down their work.

The pilots claimed that their pay was 48% lower than that of captains and first UPS officers, and that the arduous working conditions had led to low morale and high turnover due to the growing shortage of pilots in the United States. United States and the world. Teamsters Local 1224, which represents the flight crews of several smaller freight carriers and passenger air carriers, says in November Atlas has hired 288 new pilots since the beginning of the year and 145 pilots have left. He published a survey of members in which 68% of the 925 Atlas pilots who responded to the survey indicated that they were looking for work with other companies.

Atlas has not responded to a request for comment prior to the publication of this article.

In the past, Atlas had accused the union of providing false information and had stated that it had been able to hire a sufficient number of pilots as it grew to maintain a reliable service.

Last year, Atlas reached an interim agreement with Southern pilots to put them on the same terms as the rest of its pilots during the negotiation of a new contract.

Amazon also leases 20 aircraft from the competing group Air Transport Services Group, with 10 more on hold. ATG pilots also negotiate contracts, with similar concerns about pay and working conditions.

Amazon took stakes in both companies, with options to extend its stake in Atlas to 30% and ATSG to 33%.

On Saturday afternoon, one of those 767s crashed at the Houston approach from Miami; the three on board are supposed to be dead. The cause is not clear. Flight 3591 plunged into a swampy area of Trinity Bay, eyewitnesses told police. In the last minute of flight, the 26 – year – old aircraft quickly descended from an altitude of 6000 feet, according to FlightRadar data.

It seems to be the first fatal accident for Atlas Air. According to incident reports prepared by the aviation safety network, the carrier had previously suffered irreparable damage in an accident: in 2008, an improperly secured cargo had broken through the partition of a 747 during takeoff from Lomé airport in Togo, and in 2005, a 747 skidded on a snowy track during the landing in Düsseldorf, Germany.

Atlas was founded in 1992 by Michael Chowdry, a Pakistani immigrant based in the United States, who made him a major freight and passenger carrier. The company reported to Chowdry a fortune of $ 920 million and a place on the Forbes 400 before his death in 2001 at age 46 in an accident while flying a Czech jet trainer L-39.

Revenues increased 24% to a record $ 2.7 billion in 2018 and net income increased 21% to $ 270 million.

The growth was made in a climate of disagreement with its pilots, with whom it is mired in contractual negotiations since 2016 and who organized demonstrations in front of the head office of Amazon.

In November 2017, Atlas convinced a federal court to ban its pilots from slowing down their work.

The pilots claimed that their pay was 48% lower than that of captains and first UPS officers, and that the arduous working conditions had led to low morale and high turnover due to the growing shortage of pilots in the United States. United States and the world. Teamsters Local 1224, which represents the flight crew of a number of small freight carriers and passenger air carriers, said in November that Atlas had hired 288 new pilots since the beginning of the year and that 145 pilots were gone. He published a survey of members in which 68% of the 925 Atlas pilots who responded to the survey indicated that they were looking for work with other companies.

Atlas has not responded to a request for comment prior to the publication of this article.

In the past, Atlas had accused the union of providing false information and had stated that it had been able to hire a sufficient number of pilots as it grew to maintain a reliable service.

Last year, Atlas reached an interim agreement with Southern pilots to put them on the same terms as the rest of its pilots during the negotiation of a new contract.

Amazon took stakes in both companies, with options to extend its stake in Atlas to 30% and ATSG to 33%.