Amazon Air Hub in CVG Airport open for business

 Amazon Air Hub in CVG Airport open for business

Amazon Air Hub launched 2019 have officially began operations at Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky International Airport (CVG). The 800,000-square-foot facility welcomed the first of over 2,000 dedicated Amazonians who will bring this $1.5 billion investment in the Northern Kentucky region to life.

As operations started, Amazon celebrated the arrival of the first of many of its branded aircraft onto our brand-new ramp. By the end of the year, this facility, which spans over 600 acres, will operate a dozen flights per day and process millions of packages every week.

As a former U.S. Navy F/A-18 E/F pilot, Sarah Rhoads, vice president of Amazon Global Air had the honor of leading many successful operations, and this one is truly special. From the partners who fly our aircraft, to the employees who plan for and manage aircraft loading and unloading, to the system of robotics technology that transports packages across a facility three football stadiums in size—seeing the Amazon Air Hub come alive is like witnessing an operational symphony.

“Ryan Swagler, a ramp area manager for Amazon Air, is one of those people who makes that symphony possible. I caught up with her prior to our first aircraft departure to get her perspective on the day. She told me that watching the first plane take off from the new hub was a huge “high-five” moment for her team. Swagler and her team serve a critical role on the ramp, which is the area where aircraft are loaded and unloaded. They marshal, or signal, the aircraft in, load and unload the planes, and then push the aircraft back in preparation for takeoff. While we are only just getting started, I’m already inspired by what the team is doing to support our customers through this site,” says Rhoads.

Catamaran and Amazon join venture Prione Business Services to discontinue agreement

 Catamaran and Amazon join venture Prione Business Services to discontinue agreement

Prione Business Services, the joint venture between Amazon and Catamaran, has been running successfully for the past 7 years and is coming up for renewal on May 19, 2022. The two partners announced they have mutually decided to not continue their joint venture beyond the end of its current term. The JV has enabled over 300,000 sellers and entrepreneurs to go online and enabled 4 million merchants with digital payment capabilities, providing these SMBs and merchants access to millions of customers across the country.

When Prione was formed in 2014, e-commerce was still in a nascent stage in India. The small and medium businesses (SMBs) in India were new to digital and needed support, training and tools to go online.  The JV’s vision was to enable Indian SMBs to succeed in e-commerce and benefit from the digital opportunity. Prione has played an important role in transforming Indian e-commerce, and paving the way for the global scale up of emerging Indian brands.

M.D. Ranganath, president - Catamaran, said, “We are happy that Prione has leveraged global best practices for e-commerce in India, created jobs, and provided millions of Indian customers access to a wide selection of products from across the country by leveraging technology. As our JV with Amazon reaches the end of its tenure, I reflect on this successful partnership that introduced the power of digitization and empowered hundreds of thousands of SMBs across big and small towns. We would like to thank Amazon for the partnership that leaves behind a strong legacy of shaping e-commerce in India.”

Amit Agarwal, global senior VP and country head - Amazon India, said, “Amazon and Catamaran entered into a JV in the early days of e-commerce in India with a shared vision of transforming hundreds of thousands of small businesses in a fast-changing digital world, by providing online capabilities enabling them to access customers both in India and globally. We are humbled by how the JV exceeded its vision, helping online commerce evolve through the unrelenting efforts of hundreds of its employees, positively impacting over 4.3 million small businesses, creating hundreds of thousands of jobs, and contributing to India’s digital economy. We were privileged to have had a partner we could learn from and lean on. I would like to thank the Catamaran team for this long and fruitful partnership that helped set the direction for e-commerce in India.”