UPS upgrades Hong Kong-US capacity
United Parcel Service will be replacing one of its daily 747-200 freighter flights between Hong Kong and the U.S. with an MD-11, beginning July 21.
While the MD-11 is a smaller aircraft, UPS says it will be able to get a higher payload because the MD-11 is a more efficient aircraft. It can fly direct from Hong Kong to Anchorage, avoiding a refueling stop in South Korea.
Spokesman Mark Giuffre said the MD-11, one of three now in the UPS fleet, will have a payload of about 155,000 pounds, compared to 115,000 pounds on the 747 if it were to fly non-stop from Hong Kong to Anchorage. From Anchorage, the aircraft will fly to UPS’s main hub in Louisville. Return flights will stop in Anchorage and Incheon before landing in Hong Kong.
UPS will continue to operate a daily 747 flight from Hong Kong to Anchorage, with a stop at Incheon. It also flies another 747 from Hong Kong every other day, said Giuffre.
The carrier will be adding two more MD-11s to its fleet in October and November. Eight others will join the fleet by 2005 under an agreement with the Boeing Co., which is handling the conversions from passenger to freighter configuration.
UPS, which announced its choice of the MD-11 as its preferred freighter for intercontinental flights in January 2001, has options on 22 more of them. UPS took delivery of its first three MD-11 freighters from Boeing in October and November 2001. It has been using them on U.S. domestic routes.
