Cargo Chat: SBD’s Mark Gibbs on Amazon hub role

Amazon opened its newest regional air hub at San Bernardino Airport (SBD) late in April, kicking off operations there with one 767F flight per day. SBD is among many new U.S. Amazon gateways this year, including Kansas City, Pittsburgh, Toledo and Fairbanks since March alone, but SBD has the distinction of a major investment from Amazon in its own facilities at the airport, rather than outsourcing handling and facility space. [caption id="attachment_95675" align="alignright" width="450"] Mark Gibbs, director of aviation, San Bernardino Airport (SBD)[/caption] To learn more about San Bernardino’s cooperation with Amazon that culminated in last month’s successful launch, Air Cargo World spoke with Mark Gibbs, director of aviation at the airport. Gibbs explained how the airport transitioned from a virtual non-entity for air cargo before 2017 to an express and e-commerce hub, and how Amazon’s operations at SBD have set an example for the future of cargo operations there. Air Cargo World: What does this official launch means in terms of on-airport operational growth at SBD, and how do you expect Amazon’s expanded facility will ramp up over the next couple of years? Mark Gibbs: It might be helpful to lay the foundation of what's been happening at the airport for the past several years. We really didn't have any cargo to speak of prior to 2017; the end of 2017 is when UPS joined us, and established a permanence in 2018. So they started late in 2017 and never stopped. While they’re doing their construction, that quickly led to FedEx. Since then, we’ve been one of the fastest-growing cargo airports in the country. To put that into context, for UPS alone, we’ve become their largest gateway in Southern California in that short amount of time. We now have more flights with UPS than LAX, Burbank and Long Beach combined, so it's a pretty significant move that's been heading our way. And that has culminated with the addition of the new Amazon hub. It's a really significant facility for Amazon, and it's not something that we see in this industry too often. I liken it to a new era in aviation — it's the next chapter in aviation, really, because there are not a lot of big domestic rollouts nationwide. So as far as hubs that Amazon has constructed around the country go, this is the second largest. CVG [Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport] is the mothership, and that is really, really big, but this is the second largest. ACW: Amazon launched with one flight, but based on SBD’s previous statements, you expect maybe 12 daily Amazon flights during the first year. Is that still correct? MG: We don’t know for sure, that’s really Amazon’s news. They're going to build based on demand, and it's a national network. And what that means is that they're adding planes, they're connecting markets, they're growing. It's a really fast rollout, if you think about the scope and magnitude of what they're doing but, you know, they're going to grow smart. That's what Amazon does. We don't know for sure, but we know they’re going to be continually adding flights throughout the year. ACW: With this gradual ramp up, is there still any construction work going on around their facility? MG: No, the build was absolutely amazing. It started in the first week of January 2020 and was substantially complete 13 months later. I've been around a lot of construction projects, but I've never been part of anything close to the scope and magnitude and speed with which this facility was constructed. We engaged with a developer by the name of Hillwood — they also built AFW's Amazon hub — and they were an absolutely amazing partner, it’s unbelievable what they did with this facility. It's constructed in accordance with all the FAA requirements, it meets all the specifications. ACW: Now that Amazon is increasing its business at the airport, are you expecting any further increases with other express or e-commerce traffic? MG: You know, we've got the three largest cargo carriers in the world here now. I'm very proud to say that it's a benefit to the airport; it's a benefit to the community; it's a benefit to the region. And we're excited to support that. We've been gaining traction and visibility throughout the industry, and people are realizing, “Hey, you know, we can serve Southern California from an airport that, you know, has reasonable rates and great infrastructure and, you know, wants us to be there.” ACW: What stands out to you about the new operations? MG: One of the more interesting pieces about [Amazon’s] rollout is that their commitment to sustainability is unbelievable. Now they're the launch customer — no one else in the world has anywhere near the investment in electric fleet technology that Amazon has. You name it, it's electric, and it's on that ramp. And it's exciting to see their commitment, particularly in the state of California, to achieve those type of goals.

Cargo Chat: SBD’s Mark Gibbs on Amazon hub role

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