Amazon has paused all operations with cargo carrier 21 Air after a deadly runway overrun at Miami International Airport killed five people, and preliminary federal evidence suggests the pilots knew the plane was coming in too fast.
Amazon spokesperson Kelly Nantel told Reuters the company made the decision after reviewing "surrounding circumstances" of the September 6 crash of Flight 7598, a 32-year-old Boeing 767-300 freighter that overran the runway on arrival from San Juan, Puerto Rico, struck multiple vehicles on the ground, and erupted in flames. Five people died. Five more were injured.
The suspension marks the second fatal accident tied to Amazon's air cargo network. In 2019, an Atlas Air Boeing 767 operating for Amazon crashed in Texas, killing all three crew members aboard. Now, with lawsuits already filed in Florida and a National Transportation Safety Board investigation still in its early stages, the retail giant faces mounting questions about its reliance on contract carriers to move packages by air.
NTSB investigators have pulled data from the cockpit voice recorder that paints a troubling picture. Approximately 100 seconds before impact, the pilots acknowledged the aircraft's excessive speed. Electronic "too low terrain" warnings sounded four times. The autopilot disconnected shortly after the crew first raised speed concerns, the New York Post reported.
Yet the crew did not take consistent corrective action. The NTSB stated:
"The other pilot made additional comments regarding the aircraft's excessive speed throughout the remainder of the recording. There was not a consistent verbal response to the comments about speed."
Recorded flight data showed no indication that the aircraft's speed brakes or thrust reversers, standard tools for slowing a jet on the ground, were deployed before the plane traveled roughly 1,300 feet beyond the end of the runway. Federal investigators are now focused on whether the aircraft touched down too late on the runway to stop safely.
The NTSB has not determined a probable cause. That investigation remains ongoing. But the early evidence raises hard questions about what happened inside that cockpit and whether the crew had the training, the equipment, or the judgment to handle the approach.
The crash unfolded around 2 p.m. local time on September 6. The Boeing 767-300, originally delivered as a passenger plane in 1994 and later converted to a freighter, overran Miami International Airport's diagonal runway after arriving from Luis Muñoz MarÃn International Airport in San Juan. It struck multiple vehicles on the ground and caught fire, the Washington Examiner reported.
More than 60 Miami-Dade Fire Rescue units and approximately 200 personnel rushed to the scene. Firefighters used specialized foam to extinguish an engine compartment fire while HazMat teams addressed an active fuel leak streaming from the aircraft. Fire Chief Raied Jadallah told reporters at the time that the fuel leak was still "being mitigated" as crews worked to rescue victims trapped in vehicles and in the cockpit, Fox News reported.
The FAA issued a full ground stop at the airport. The crash shut down Miami International and delayed hundreds of flights, compounding the human toll with a logistical mess that rippled across the country.
Nantel's statement to Reuters, reported by Fox Business, acknowledged the company had spent time "reviewing some of the surrounding circumstances" before deciding to suspend 21 Air:
"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. We'll continue working to support the investigation and everyone affected."
What Amazon did not say is just as notable. The company offered no detail about what specific circumstances triggered the pause. It did not say whether it found safety deficiencies, training gaps, or maintenance concerns, or whether the decision was simply a legal and reputational precaution while the NTSB does its work.
21 Air, for its part, pushed back. The company told Reuters it remains "confident in our safety policies, procedures and training." CEO Keith Winters issued an earlier statement saying the company was "devastated" by the accident and was cooperating fully with the NTSB, FAA, and local authorities.
"Our deepest condolences are with the families and loved ones of those who lost their lives."
Confidence in safety procedures is a bold claim from a carrier whose aircraft just overran a runway by 1,300 feet with no apparent deployment of speed brakes or thrust reversers, while the pilots were actively discussing the plane's excessive speed.
Families and survivors have not waited for the federal investigation to conclude. Lawsuits have been filed in Florida alleging negligence by 21 Air, Amazon, and other parties connected to Flight 7598. A widow has sued Amazon over the crash, citing a botched landing and ignored safety warnings.
At least one survivor has also filed suit. A crash survivor sued both 21 Air and Amazon, alleging the pilots knew the jet was coming in too fast, a claim now supported by the NTSB's preliminary cockpit voice recorder findings.
The exact plaintiffs, courts, and case numbers have not been publicly detailed in full. But the legal exposure for both Amazon and 21 Air is substantial, particularly if the NTSB's final report confirms that the crew failed to execute basic landing procedures despite recognizing the danger in real time.
21 Air began operating Boeing 767 freighters for Amazon in 2024, making it a relatively new addition to Amazon Air's cargo logistics network. The carrier's brief tenure raises its own set of questions: what vetting process did Amazon use before contracting with 21 Air, and whether that process was adequate given the outcome.
Amazon's air cargo operation has grown rapidly in recent years as the company built out its own delivery infrastructure to reduce reliance on UPS, FedEx, and the U.S. Postal Service. That growth has meant contracting with outside carriers to fly Amazon-branded freighters, a model that gives Amazon the brand visibility but places day-to-day flight operations in the hands of third parties.
When one of those third parties puts a plane 1,300 feet past the end of a runway and into a row of vehicles, the brand on the fuselage still reads Amazon. The company has now cut ties with 21 Air, at least temporarily. Whether that pause becomes permanent will likely depend on what the NTSB finds, and what the courts decide.
The 2019 Atlas Air crash in Texas, which killed all three people aboard a Boeing 767 operating for Amazon, already demonstrated the risks embedded in this contract-carrier model. That crash was eventually attributed to pilot error. If the Miami investigation reaches a similar conclusion, it will mark the second time in seven years that a crew flying under the Amazon Air banner failed catastrophically on approach.
The investigation is far from over. Among the unresolved issues: why speed brakes and thrust reversers were not deployed despite the crew's awareness of excessive speed; whether the aircraft's age, 32 years old, played any role in the mechanical chain of events; and whether 21 Air's training protocols prepared its crews for the conditions they encountered on that approach into Miami.
Amazon, meanwhile, has been navigating its own public posture carefully. The company has rolled out pay increases and new employee benefits in recent weeks, moves that speak to a company conscious of its public image across multiple fronts.
Five people are dead because a cargo plane couldn't stop. The pilots knew they were coming in too fast. The brakes never engaged. And the company whose name was on the aircraft says it's still "gathering details." Accountability doesn't gather, it arrives, whether Amazon is ready for it or not.