Postal Service Shifts Much Mail Off Passenger Jets
NEW YORK (Reuters) – The U.S. Postal Service has moved a large portion of items it usually ships in airplane “bellies” to trucking companies and commercial cargo airlines, as it faces new restrictions, the Wall Street Journal reported in its online edition on Tuesday.
The move comes after the introduction of new Federal Aviation Administration rules requiring most cargo carried on passenger planes to be screened for explosives, the report said.
The new rules do not just affect the airlines, they also affect the companies that ship items on passenger airlines, the report said.
According to the report, the FAA has not disclosed the specific new regulations, and postal officials will not publicly comment on the rules.
The report, which cites an airline-industry official involved in recent talks between the FAA and Postal Service, said that since the September 11 attacks on the United States, mail-related revenue at passenger carriers has fallen 40 percent, costing the carriers about $30 million.
According to the report, a post-office spokeswoman acknowledged that only about 10 percent of U.S. mail is now moving by airplane, down from about 25 percent before the attacks.
The report said the new restrictions for passenger airlines could help cargo carriers such as FedEx Corp. and United Parcel Service Inc., which do not face the same major changes in how they do business.
According to the report, a FedEx spokeswoman said that the carrier has been meeting with postal officials to handle a larger capacity. UPS declined to comment on whether it is picking up additional shipment volume as a result of the tighter restrictions, the newspaper said.
