Amazon suspends flights with airline whose plane crashed in Miami

By NIRAJ CHOKSHI

Amazon said it would temporarily stop transporting packages on 21 Air, the cargo airline that suffered a plane crash at the airport serving Miami last week, killing five people.

“Safety has always been our top priority, whether in our own operations or when we’re working with partners,” Kelly Nantel, an Amazon spokesperson, said in a statement. “We’ve spent time supporting the investigation and reviewing some of the surrounding circumstances, and we’ve decided to pause our operations with 21 Air.”

Two 21 Air pilots were operating a Boeing 767 on behalf of Amazon when the plane overshot a runway at Miami International Airport on Sept. 6, colliding with two vehicles, including a van owned by a cleaning company that serves airlines. Five people in the van died and five others were injured.

“We remain focused on supporting the families and loved ones who were impacted by this accident, as well as working closely with the NTSB and all our partners, like Amazon, as the investigation continues,” 21 Air said in a statement, referring to the National Transportation Safety Board. “We are confident in our safety policies, procedures and training.”

The company was operating Flight 7598 on behalf of Amazon Air, which uses several cargo airlines to operate planes on its behalf. Amazon said it expected its decision would have little if any effect on its customers. 21 Air also operates flights for DHL, the logistics company based in Bonn, Germany.

In a statement, DHL said it “continually assesses its network and relationships with service providers to ensure we meet the needs of our customers and our operational requirements.” The company declined to comment further, citing the “sensitive nature” of the ongoing investigation.

One of the pilots of Flight 7598 warned the other multiple times that they were traveling with “excessive speed” as the plane came in for a landing, according to the safety board, which is investigating the crash and has recovered and analyzed the cockpit voice recording. The plane was moving at 138 mph when the brakes released.

According to the safety board, about 16 seconds after the plane appeared to touch down, a pilot could be heard calling for a go around, a maneuver in which a pilot aborts a landing, flies up and tries again.

The agency won’t publicly disclose a cause for the crash until it issues a final report, which could take a year or more. Several former 21 Air employees have raised safety concerns about the airline, according to legal documents in a whistleblower case filed with the Labor Department.

21 Air, which is based in Greensboro, North Carolina, is owned by Jim Crane, a billionaire who built his fortune in logistics and who also owns the Houston Astros baseball team.