MIAMI – Amazon announced on Sunday that it has decided to suspend its partnership with 21 Air. This decision follows a tragic incident that occurred last week, where one of 21 Air’s cargo planes, loaded with Amazon packages, lost control and ran off a runway in Miami, resulting in the deaths of five people.
The aircraft involved, a Boeing 767, landed at a high speed on September 6. It traveled approximately 1,300 feet (about 396 meters) beyond the runway’s end and crashed into a van carrying workers from a plane cleaning company. Unfortunately, all five individuals in the van lost their lives, and five others sustained injuries.
“After the tragic incident last weekend, 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, the operator of Flight 7598,” said Amazon spokesperson Kelly Nantel in a statement. “We’ll continue working to support the investigation and everyone affected.”
21 Air, based in North Carolina, has been transporting packages for Amazon since 2024. As of now, the company has not provided a comment regarding Amazon’s decision to suspend their partnership.
Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) are currently reviewing various factors related to the incident, including the ownership history of the jet, the weather conditions at the time of the accident, and the maintenance records of 21 Air. One critical piece of information revealed by the NTSB on September 9 is that one of the pilots had warned the other that they were coming in too fast, both during the landing approach and after touchdown.
The cockpit audio recordings captured several automated alerts from the plane concerning its speed of descent and the terrain ahead. However, the full transcript of the cockpit conversations will not be available until further along in the investigation process.
This Boeing 767, which is now 32 years old, was initially designed to carry passengers. It served several airlines in different countries for over two decades before being converted into a cargo aircraft in 2015, according to data from flight-tracking website Flightradar24.
