Amazon has paused all operations with cargo carrier 21 Air. The decision, announced Monday, Sept. 14, follows a Sept. 6 crash at Miami International Airport that killed five people, Spectrum News 1 reported.

The crashed plane had flown from Cincinnati to Miami earlier that day as part of Amazon's air cargo network, which is anchored by the company's $1.5 billion superhub in Hebron. 21 Air, based in Greensboro, North Carolina, operates eight planes for Amazon, according to aviation analytics firm Cirium. Amazon contracts with nine carriers and more than 100 planes total.

Amazon spokesperson Kelly Nantel said in a prepared statement that the company decided to pause operations with 21 Air, the operator of Flight 7598, after reviewing the circumstances surrounding the crash.

The Boeing 767 cargo jet had flown from Cincinnati to Miami, then Miami to San Juan, Puerto Rico, and was returning to Miami on its third flight of the day. It touched down at approximately 1:53 p.m. on Sept. 6, barreled roughly 1,300 feet past the end of the runway and struck a van carrying workers from Professional Ocean Service Corp., a contract airline cleaning company. All five people killed were in the van. Five others were injured.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) released an investigative update Wednesday, Sept. 9, with details from the cockpit voice recorder. One pilot warned the other they were going "too fast" about a minute and 42 seconds before the end of the recording.

The other pilot did not consistently respond to the speed warnings, according to the NTSB update. A pilot called for a go-around 15 seconds before the recording ended, but the plane was traveling at roughly 138 mph. No speed brakes or thrust reversers were deployed.

The crash has drawn scrutiny of 21 Air's safety record. NPR reported that Karl Seuring, former president of 21 Air's pilot union, said he was fired in 2022 for raising safety concerns.

Seuring told NPR in a Sept. 12 interview: "We anticipated and we feared it. And we knew the day would come, and there wasn't anything we could do."

A departing 21 Air safety director, Don Helmig, wrote in a 2021 email to the company's owner that "Everywhere I looked there are issues," accusing leaders of paying "lip service" to safety, according to NPR.

Amazon said it is aware of the former employees' safety concerns but believes the allegations pre-date its relationship with 21 Air and the carrier's current leadership team. 21 Air said in a statement that it has focused on "deploying the right training, protocols and procedures" and would evaluate the NTSB's findings.

The widow of victim Yoel Rodríguez Naranjo has filed a wrongful death lawsuit in Miami-Dade County against the pilots, Amazon and 21 Air, according to WLWT. The suit, announced Sept. 9 by the Morgan & Morgan law firm, alleges the crash was a "foreseeable and preventable disaster caused by negligence."

The Miami crash is the third major accident involving a Boeing 767 flying for Amazon. A 2019 Atlas Air flight crashed near Houston, killing three. In 2024, another Boeing 767 overran the runway at Vancouver International Airport with no injuries.

The NTSB investigation is ongoing, with no timeline announced for a preliminary report.