FedEx and UPS today each launched new intercontinental flights to and from Asia to continuetheir network expansion in the fast-growing region.
UPS has introduced four additional weekly B747-400F flights between Hong Kong and its Europeanhub at Cologne while FedEx launched a new dedicated B777F route connecting its World Hub in Memphisto South Korea with four nonstop flights a week.
UPS said it now offers 11 flights from Hong Kong to Europe each week with the introduction ofthe four direct services which will operate Monday to Thursday. The previous seven flights operatebetween Hong Kong and Cologne via Dubai. The US integrator claimed that the new direct flightsenable it to offer the widest next-day delivery coverage for both packages and heavy freight toEurope from Hong Kong. UPS could now reach “more of Europe next day, guaranteed, than any logisticscarrier”.
“Hong Kong is a strategically important market for UPS with its proximity to mainland China andits well-established trade connections with the rest of the world,” said Dan Brutto, president ofUPS International. “With the EU becoming an important trading partner for many Asian markets, thelaunch of these flights shows a commitment to Asian businesses by providing them additional andfaster options on these trade lanes.”
“The new direct flights significantly reduce the transit time between Hong Kong and Europe,providing European businesses that import from Asia a faster and more efficient option,” addedWolfgang Flick, president of UPS Europe. “Over the last few years, Hong Kong to Europe has becomeone of the fastest growing trade lanes. UPS’s new flights add significant capacity to support thislane.”
The flights give companies in the Asia Pacific region easier access and more options to conductbusiness with Europe and makes it easier for European businesses to pull components or productsfrom Asia, it added. The new service offers wide coverage across Europe reaching 34 countries withnon-dutiable small package and letters service, and 18 countries with dutiable small packageservice. With the UPS express freight service, shipments can be delivered in one day to 18countries and 39 cities across Europe.
UPS’s Cologne air hub is the centerpiece of the company’s extensive and integrated European airand ground network, which includes 460 operating facilities and 156 daily intra-Europe flightsegments, ensuring the company can deliver to every address in Europe.
Meanwhile, FedEx said that its new Seoul flights combined faster service with larger cargocapacity and it could therefore now deliver documents and packages from the USA, Canada and selectmarkets in Latin America to Seoul in two to three business days. FedEx also claimed to offerthe fastest delivery of priority freight from these markets to the South Korean capital.
The company said it had strategically placed the B777F into service to South Korea in order tomeet growing demands across global markets. US exports to the country soared by 35% to US$38.8billion in value terms last year, and could rise as much as $11 billion a year once a bilateral FTAcomes into effect.
“Korea is the seventh-largest trading partner of the USA in terms of two-way trade which isexpected to increase after final approval of the US – Korea Free Trade Agreement,” said Michael L.Ducker, executive vice president and chief operating officer, FedEx Express. “Flying direct toSouth Korea supports export trade from the USA, Canada and select markets in Latin America andhelps put our customers’ shipments from these locations into the South Korean market muchfaster.”
