Amazon.com has selected San Bernardino, CA as the location for its new US West Coast regional hub. The 61,300-square-metre facility will be built ground up and is planned to fully open in 2021.

"We are excited to realize a long-term goal of offering air cargo operations at our airport, just as Norton Air Force Base did at this location for decades,” Executive Director of San Bernardino International Airport Michael Burrows said in a press release.

Burrows told The San Bernardino Sun that initial operations could begin by the end of 2020 as works have already started.

Amazon did not disclose the value of its investment but said the project will be entirely privately funded. The facility will be able to serve 14 freighter aircraft and was approved by the Federal Aviation Audministration (FAA) in late 2019.

However, the move to set up a regional hub in San Bernardino is a subject to a legal challenge filed by California's Attorney General Xavier Becerra and local environmental groups, alleging that investors ignored local residents' health concerns and that the FAA wrongly assessed the environmental impact of the project.

San Bernardino airport already hosts United Parcel Service and FedEx facilities. It does not see any scheduled passenger services.