In February 1988, UPS Airlines was certified by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) as one of the fastest airline startups in FAA history.
Today, our focus on aviation safety makes UPS one of the world’s safest, most efficient airlines, while moving everything from life-saving medicines and humanitarian aid to goods that keep the world’s economies humming.
‘The launch of UPS Airlines was a turning point for UPS’, said UPS Airlines President Bill Moore. ‘The past 36 years have been marked by evolution and change. What has been constant is the passion, teamwork and commitment our people show every single day.’
With almost 2,000 daily flight segments globally and nearly 20,000 employees, UPS Airlines has a small army working 24 hours a day/7days a week behind the scenes to meet customer demand.
Seven things that may surprise you about UPS Airlines over the years:
A ‘tail’ of two cities. UPS moved two of the world’s heaviest fish, whale sharks, from Taipei, Taiwan, to Atlanta’s Georgia Aquarium.
Not so ‘ice-solated’ anymore. UPS ‘polar-gistics’ made headlines when the company helped deliver a five-month-old orphaned polar bear cub to her new home at the Louisville Zoo in Kentucky.
Made the impossible, ‘pawssible’! UPS airlifted Lun Lun & Yang Yang, a breeding panda bear pair, from China to Zoo Atlanta.
It was worth a try.. UPS carried passengers – yes, people – from March 1997 to September 2001. Each aircraft offered 113 seats to vacation tour companies operating charter flights.
Yum yum, here comes the aeroplane! UPS delivered more than half a million servings, or 22 tons, of baby formula as part of the U.S. government’s Operation Fly Formula to speed up imports during a severe shortage across the country.
This is how we play! There are about 626,000 parts in a 757 freighter, with enough space to hold over 6 million golf balls.
Rose to the occasion. UPS crew members can monitor and control the temperature in the cargo bay to make sure perishable shipments – like Valentine’s flowers from South America – stay fresh throughout their journey.
We are not just winging it here. A UPS 747 one of the world’s largest cargo freighters and UPS has over 40 of them in operation today. And they are super fast, too. A 747-8 can travel the length of a standard marathon – 26.2 miles – in just 2.5 minutes!
