Amazon is investing in an existing hub for its Prime shipping program at the Chicago Rockford International Airport.
The planned 120,000-sq.-ft. Expansion may as much as double the Amazon jobs at the airport and will make room for eight more of Amazon’s Prime jets from the retail giant’s fleet of 767 cargo planes, according to MyStateLine.com.
(AMZN) Amazon Air is the midpoint hub for one- and two-day delivery orders placed through Amazon’s Prime membership program. The expansion is not a surprise, say local officials. Amazon employs between 250 and 300 people at the airport right now, according to Peoria Public Radio. Already, Chicago Rockford has the nation’s 22nd busiest cargo business in terms of volume, and the city’s mayor, Tom McNamara, says Rockford is one of the top three airports of the more than 20 that Amazon Air currently uses nationwide.
Rockford is a town of just over 147,000 residents, located west of Chicago and Milwaukee and roughly equidistant from both major cities. In recent years, the town has ended up on “worst cities” lists thanks to unemployment and crime rates well above the national average, according to the Rockford Register Star.
Rockford has worked to steadily add jobs in recent years. And now, the Amazon expansion may add up to another 300 jobs to the local economy when it rolls out in July 2019, according to MyStateLine.