Faster Package Delivery? Construction At Amazon’s $1.5 Billion Airport Hub Gets Underway

Amazon (AMZN) has begun construction at the Cincinnati/Norther Kentucky International Airport to allow it move packages to consumers even faster. The $1.5 billion development will create an air services hub, where Amazon will operate its Amazon Prime Air fleet out of.

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos was in attendance at the groundbreaking ceremony on Tuesday, where he used a John Deere front loader to move the first dirt pile on the site.

“This hub is going to let us get packages to customers faster. We’re going to move Prime from two days (delivery) to one day,” Bezos said at the airport groundbreaking. Amazon recently announced that it will begin offering one-day delivery to Prime members in the near future.

The airport development is expected to bring 2,000 jobs to the area by “ensuring fast, free delivery of their packages,” Sarah Rhoads, the director of Amazon Air, said at the groundbreaking.

The Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky airport was selected by Amazon in 2017, and is the largest development to come to the area in its history, the Cincinnati Business Courier reported.

The airport hub is expected to be open by 2021, according to Rhoads. A total of 50 aircraft will operate out of the hub that will be fitted with a ramp, tower, and sortation facility, the news outlet said.