Who is (should be) afraid of Amazon? asks German bank

German bank KFW-Ipex has issued a market analysis of Amazon’s growth in Europe, and saves the best line for last: “It is only a matter of time when, and in what form, Amazon Air comes to Europe.” But as it also notes, Amazon already is busy in Europe: “The frequency of flights by aircraft carrying Amazon parcels has increased considerably in recent months at the most important locations in Germany for this purpose, namely Cologne/Bonn and Leipzig/Halle airports. Similar to the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky airport in the US, the retail giant is also using DHL’s expanded distribution centre in Leipzig and is developing it into its own transport hub. This is also attracting other cargo airlines to the location, such as Cargo Logic Germany.”

And it points to Amazon’s huge growth in its own transport. “In 2021, it will be able to handle 100 Amazon cargo planes with 2,000 employees, twice the current fleet size. While the delivery rate for its own parcels was around 10% at the beginning of 2017, Amazon now delivers about every second parcel in the US itself.”

A useful read for anyone with even a passing interest in the e-commerce behemoth.