Amazon is secretly testing its own air freight service in Europe

Amazon has been secretly operating its own air freight service in Europe ahead of Christmas, The Evening Standard reports.

The air freight service, which has not previously been disclosed by the company, uses a chartered Boeing 737 to fly between the UK, Poland, and Germany, according to the report.

Amazon has been looking at buying air miles in the US, too. Reports suggested that the company was looking at purchasing 20 aircraft to move packages and parcels around the US before Christmas.

A report from The Wall Street Journal yesterday highlighted the increasingly frayed relationship between Amazon and UPS, one of the biggest logistics and delivery firms in the world. Amazon is UPS' biggest client, according to the report, but executives are becoming unhappy with the service as volume ramps up for Christmas.

The European trips connected three of Amazon's biggest fulfillment centres, according to the report. The planes made five trips a week, going from Katowice in Poland to Luton in England and then back to Poland via Kassel in Germany.

Amazon chartered the planes from a German firm and has been in talks with operators in Spain and Italy.

"Within our European fulfillment network, we use various carriers with a range of transport methods for distributing and delivering items. This includes air," said an Amazon spokesperson to The Evening Standard.