The Tightest 108 Ships in the Shipping Business

Boeing, the formerly Seattle, formerly Chicago, soon-to-be Arlington, Virginia-based aerospace titan, has announced an order that will see United Parcel Service (UPS) add another eight 767-Freighters to its fleet of over two-hundred Boeing cargo aircraft. The deal brings the total number of 767-Freighter in service with UPS to 108.

UPS executive vice president Nando Cesarone stated: "The additional 767s will help us continue to deliver what matters to UPS customers around the world. This is a very versatile aircraft that we operate across every region of the globe. With these aircraft, our fleet will continue to be among the most modern in our industry, meeting our customers' needs while improving our efficiency, sustainability and reliability."

Notwithstanding the upheaval and unprecedented hardships with which passenger airlines have contended, the COVID and post COVID epochs have seen tremendous growth in the air-cargo sector. By dint of their indispensability to e-commerce and global supply-chains, air cargo operators realized 2021 revenues in excess of twice their 2019 earnings.

Boeing senior vice president of commercial sales and marketing Ihssane Mounir remarked: "This repeat order from UPS is a testament to the outstanding cargo capabilities of the 767-Freighter and further demonstrates Boeing's market leadership in the freighter segment. UPS will operate more than one-hundred 767-Freighters with this order and will build its fleet of Boeing and Boeing-heritage airplanes to more than 260 airplanes. We are honored to play an important role in UPS's efforts to operate a more sustainable, more efficient fleet."

In addition to the new 767-Freighters—of which UPS will take delivery in 2025—Big Brown is slated to take on a 767-Boeing-Converted-Freighter (BCF) which will enter service in 2023.

Based on the 767-300ER (Extended Range) passenger jet, the 767-Freighter handily shoulders revenue cargo loads of up to 52.4-metric-tons (115,522-pounds) with intercontinental range and respectable (0.73 Mach) speed. UPS was the launch customer for the 767-Freighter back in the heady days of 1995—when Seal’s Kiss from a Rose topped the charts, and Bryan Singer’s The Usual Suspects ruled the box office. To date, Boeing has delivered north of 1,200 767-Freighters to carriers the likes of FedEx, Polar, DHL, Cargojet, Qantas, ANA, and of course UPS.

Boeing’s 2022 Commercial Market Outlook posits carriers will require an additional 2,795 dedicated freighters over the next twenty-years, including 940 new widebodies, 555 widebody converted freighters, and 1,300 standard body conversions. The global freighter fleet is forecasted to grow to 3,610 airplanes by 2041—up from 2,250 today.

Boeing freighters currently account for ninety-percent of the world's sky-going freighter capacity.

FMI: www.boeing.com