To date, two Boeing 737-800 freighters have been stationed at Leipzig/Halle Airport under the Amazon Air brand. That will soon change because the online company has decided to close the local logistics center.

Only three years ago, Amazon opened the first regional air freight center in Europe at the aforementioned airport. For this purpose, two Boeing 737-800F cargo aircraft operated by ASL were stationed and a dedicated cargo center was built. This is now to be closed, with around 400 jobs being lost, according to local media reports.

This is not good news for MDF AG, the operator of Leipzig/Halle Airport, because Amazon Air, along with DHL, is considered an important customer. It is expected that the airport will lose income of several million euros per year. However, this is definitely seen as an opportunity because the area previously used by Amazon will become available and could be rented to another customer.

However, MDF AG does not yet have a successor in store for the online retail giant. Since the Amazon cargo center was explicitly tailored to the needs of the retailer, it remains to be seen whether there is an interested party. In any case, Amazon wants to increasingly use overland freight routes in Europe, primarily by truck.

The background to the US company's decision is probably that they may have miscalculated the volume or possible growth. Especially at the beginning of the Corona pandemic, demand was so high that it was almost impossible to get your own or rented cargo capacity. There has now been a decline of around 70 percent. There are various reasons for this, but Amazon also seems to be feeling the effects of the steadily declining purchasing power in Europe due to inflation.

Amazon Air's expansion at the Leipzig/Halle location was stopped some time ago. According to the original announcement, not just two machines, but significantly more were to be stationed step by step. However, this was never implemented due to a lack of demand, so the current closure does not come as a complete surprise. However, the other regional Amazon Air stations, such as Milan, are not affected by the decision.