Amazon has expanded its fleet of dedicated cargo delivery aircraft with the lease of 10 new Boeing 767 planes.

The e-commerce giant announced it was stepping up its Prime delivery fleet, taking the total number of cargo aircraft leased through its partnership with Air Transport Services Group (ATSG) to 50.

Since its launch in 2016, Amazon Air has looked to take on Fedex and UPS - both leading cargo airlines - by leasing planes to send Amazon freight across borders and improve its package delivery times.

The 10 new aircraft, which will be operated on Amazon’s behalf by an ATSG airline, will join the company’s air cargo operation over the next two years.

A statement read: “With advanced algorithms and software used for capacity and route planning, the Amazon Air operation can transport hundreds of thousands of packages per day.”

The network has meant that Amazon has been able to offer two-day shipping to almost anywhere in the US through a fleet of 40 aircraft flying out of more than 20 airports.

Amazon said that its Air shipping operations, and planned expansion into new airports in the US over the coming 12 months, will support more than 185 fulfilment centres which use algorithms, robotics, machine learning and other technological innovations to increase delivery speeds for customers.

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