Amazon started building its $1.5 billion airport, with Jeff Bezos taking the controls of a front loader to begin the work

Mary Hanbury

May 15, 2019 10:35 AM

Amazon broke ground on its $1.5 billion airport development in Cincinnati, Kentucky, on Tuesday.

Jeff Bezos

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos made a surprise appearance at the opening, hopping aboard a front loader to lift the first pile of dirt.
Amazon is taking further control of its shipping process to cut costs and speed up delivery times.
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Jeff Bezos kicked off work at Amazon's new $1.5 billion airport development in Kentucky on Tuesday.

Bezos, who reportedly made a surprise appearance at the opening, hopped aboard a front loader to lift the first pile of dirt. "If you're wondering, that's fun," he said after stepping down from the machinery.

Amazon agreed to a 50-year lease for more than 900 acres of property from Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport in 2017 . This space is close to the size of the global hubs of top cargo airlines, according to the Associated Press.

Amazon plans to take greater control of its shipping process and become less reliant on carries such as UPS, FedEx, or the USPS, to cut costs and speed up delivery times. This will be especially pertinent as it rolls out one-day shipping for Prime members.

"This hub is going to let us get packages to customers faster...We're going to move Prime from two-day [delivery] to one day, and this hub is a big part of that," Bezos said, according to WCPO-TV .

The development is expected to open in 2021 and bring 2,000 jobs to the airport.

Watch Jeff Bezos' full video here:

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