Express package specialist UPS has ordered another 19 Boeing 767 Freighters, handing another win to the US airframer at a time of robust demand for air cargo. Deliveries will run from 2023 to 2025.
The orders come in a “record-breaking year for Boeing freighter sales”, the airframer says. “In 2021, air cargo demand has surged due to an expansion of e-commerce and express cargo markets.”
Boeing has taken orders for 80 new freighters and for “more than” 80 passenger-to-freighter aircraft conversions this year, it adds.
UPS is among Boeing’s top freighter customers. The airline’s fleet includes 75 757Fs, 79 767Fs, 12 747-400Fs and 26 747-8Fs. It also operates 42 MD-11Fs and 52 Airbus A300Fs, according to Cirium fleets data.
Demand for freighter aircraft has boomed in recent years, partly because airlines grounded many widebody passenger jets during the pandemic, resulting in less capacity for cargo in the bellies of passenger aircraft. Boeing predicts demand for air cargo will increase 4% annually over the next 20 years.
