767pilot

The UPS Dispatch

UPS plans to park its classic 747 fleet beginning in January 2008, just after peak. The nine remaining 747-100s and -200s will go into storage as they come due for intensive heavy maintenance checks.
Capt. Rick Barr, Airline Operations manager, said with modern large aircraft joining the fleet, the old 747s are no longer cost effective to operate.

“Some of these classic 747s were built back in the early 70s. Compared with the newer generation airplanes, they are very inefficient in both fuel burn and range. We’re seeing significant operational savings with the new 747-400s and MD-11s,” Barr said.

Parking the 747s also simplifies the company’s aircraft fleet, reducing training, maintenance and parts costs. By August 2008, the company plans to have just three of the classic 747s still in operation; those aircraft are scheduled to fly through peak 2008, then be parked in late December and early January 2009.

“We’re optimizing cost avoidance where we can,” Barr said. “The aircraft that needs the most maintenance will be the first to go.”

New airplanes will replace the lift capacity of the classic 747 fleet.

“As we continue to bring on more MD-11s and 747-400s, we feel very comfortable we have enough lift to offset the aircraft we’re parking,” Barr said. The airline is taking delivery of 10 additional converted MD-11s this year, and 10 747-400s in 2007 and 2008.

Barr said it’s always possible that the parking plan could be modified in the future, based on volume and the needs of the company, but he doesn’t expect any significant changes to the plan.

A realignment bid for 747- 100 and -200 crewmembers is scheduled for sometime in mid- October. Specific numbers are still being finalized, but the bid is expected to reduce, by about 20, the number of crews on the aircraft. Those crewmembers will transition to other fleets. Barr said 747 flight engineers over age 60 should have the opportunity, if they choose, to move to the DC-8, the only remaining three-crewmember aircraft in the fleet.

“For the backseaters, we’re seeing a retirement rate that keeps our numbers in line with the numbers we need to staff the DC-8,” he said.

Thedude

Hoooo, more freighters for the ACMIs

Nashmd11

I guess this means UPS will have 60 DC8 Captains, 60 DC8 FO's, and 250 DC8 FE's. Be a great Gig if you live in SDF.

767pilot

If these things could have been kept in the air economiclly, UPS would have done it. These are some old, old planes.

Geronimo4497

Tell that to Connie.

hjs1971

I bet some, if not most, of them end up with Kalitta by 2009...

Trash Hauler 1

I bet we cut them up!

TH1

31wins

Connie won't buy them (to fly, maybe for parts). 100s are a rarity at Kalitta, not the norm like UPS.

Kalitta's actually got 5 -400 coming soon.

iaflyer

We (Connie) manages to make money with those planes. Sure - some of it is that he pays us less than what UPS pays, some of it is that he keeps close tabs on the heavy MX our company does to the fleet, but he also gets the contracts that pays the bills too.

We have a USPS contract to move mail from EWR to the middle east. It might not pay a huge amount (I have no idea about the $$$s) but it positions the aircraft for a short ferry to HKG where he can make a lot of money coming out of their full of freight.

UPS values reliability over cost so the classics aren't worth it to them. Also, UPS might need depreciation or non-stop range or lower fuel burn or whatever that makes their -400s a better choice.

As for the -100s, yeah, we've got six -100s and 13 -200s. The -200s can carry more freight a longer distance than the -100s. Also, being newer they are more reliable than the -100s.

1800 RVR

I was told that Connie will never get the -400 because they are too expensive and he won't get his money's worth from them. Also, I thought that -100's and -200's were quite the norm at Kalitta.