Amazon has expanded its Amazon Global Logistics air cargo offering on the China–U.S. trade lane with two new products — Air SMP and Economy Air — moving FBA sellers' inventory door-to-door in 7 to 15 days.

Air SMP enables Fulfillment by Amazon users to split inventory at origin and tender it directly to fulfillment centers in five U.S. regions via daily flights out of Shanghai and Hong Kong. Estimated transit runs 7 to 10 days. The product waives the inbound placement fee for FBA users and carries no additional surcharge on apparel, electronics, or lithium battery goods.

Economy Air launches as a cheaper alternative to Amazon's standard air service, priced below the existing Amazon Global Logistics air product. Transit times run 11 to 15 days on routings from Shanghai or Shenzhen into Los Angeles — still weeks faster than ocean replenishment, the company noted. Amazon's standard air service from Hong Kong or Shanghai reaches the U.S. in roughly seven days, according to seller help documentation.

What does Amazon get out of these products?

The two services target timing- and cost-sensitive flows that ocean and conventional air cannot always satisfy. "Both services are ideal for peak season preparation, stockout recovery, or time-sensitive product launches when ocean transit is too slow," Amazon told sellers in the announcement. The retailer framed the launch as delivering "faster replenishment, more placement control, and lower costs." Amazon withheld per-kilo pricing at launch.

The expansion deepens Amazon's own forwarder footprint on the world's busiest e-commerce air corridor. Amazon Global Logistics already books air and ocean freight from China into the U.S., U.K., European Union and Japan, plus Vietnam-to-U.S. ocean. In late September 2026, Amazon layered on a direct rail service under the same umbrella to move Los Angeles-region inventory faster to the East Coast.

How does this pressure traditional forwarders?

For incumbent forwarders and spot-market air cargo brokers, Amazon's vertical push into sell-side rates is the larger commercial story. By absorbing placement, apparel and battery surcharges inside Air SMP, Amazon compresses the line-item stack that competing forwarders typically layer onto FBA-bound freight from Shanghai, Hong Kong and Shenzhen. Economy Air, by contrast, sits explicitly below standard air rates on the same origin gateways — a price benchmark buyers can pin against incumbent tenders.

Shippers running mixed FBA and non-FBA networks gain the most optionality. Air SMP's origin-splitting model lets sellers pre-position inventory by U.S. region rather than consolidate at a single West Coast gateway, trimming downstream drayage and Amazon inbound placement charges. Economy Air undercuts air budgets that might otherwise default to express products on the Shanghai–Shenzhen–U.S. lane through Q4.

Capacity is daily and structured by geography. Air SMP runs daily flights from Shanghai and Hong Kong straight to fulfillment centers in five U.S. regions, bypassing a single deconsolidation hub. Economy Air originates from Shanghai or Shenzhen with Los Angeles as the first U.S. gateway. Amazon did not name aircraft operators at launch.

What's the broader logistics context?

Air SMP extends Amazon Supply Chain Services, a broader suite the company debuted earlier in 2026. The new air product also builds on Seller Managed Placement, which previously gave sellers ocean-based inventory pre-positioning, by adding an air option with regional U.S. distribution built in.

Faster, more granular inventory positioning has become a strategic priority for Amazon as it trims customer-facing delivery speeds. Air SMP serves sellers chasing same-week regional replenishment; Economy Air targets those willing to trade a few extra days for cheaper per-kilo rates.

Rates, service details and booking live on the Amazon Global Logistics program portal. With Transpacific air capacity still tightening toward the November peak, Amazon is positioning Air SMP and Economy Air as the default replenishment rails for time-critical China–U.S. inventory — a trajectory that will keep pressure on non-integrated forwarders to sharpen their own FBA-bound pricing and transit guarantees into the fourth quarter.