Originally Posted by
Dave Fitzgerald
That saying goes back even further than the DC-10 ANC operation. After the strike, UAL had a sizable cargo only fleet, 737 convertible planes. Quite a few DC-8's freighters. Dick Ferris when he sold the cargo planes said, "There's no money in cargo."
Soon after that, FedEx really got started. With quite a few of our old planes. DC-10's, and pretty much the whole 727 fleet. I could also mention UPS buying a whole bunch of DC-8-71's, same plane UAL had just gotten rid of....
But still, a bright spot. I have also done quite a few cargo flights. I do like them.
Fedex was pretty established prior to the strike with a growth rate probably 30-40% annually through the 80’s. in fact hitting 1 billion in revenue in 1983. They had a fleet of 727 prior to our strike from eastern ual air canada and I think lan chili. They also had 200 series brand new from boeing.
I remember Ferris saying that and I agree I like our Cargo here but back then Ual would never have competed with fedex. IMO