UPS will be flying tonnes of roses and other flowers on 40 special flights from South America to the USA this week to help deliver a romantic Valentine’s Day on February 14.
The company will move more than 100 million flowers (or 9 million pounds) to love birds around the United States. That’s enough to fill approximately 70 Boeing 767 cargo aircraft.
Many of the roses and tropical flowers originate from Latin American countries, primarily Colombia and Ecuador. More than 90% of the imported flowers will travel through Miami International Airport (MIA) where UPS is the largest air cargo carrier. From the flower farm to the importer, the journey takes less than two days.
According to the National Retail Federation, consumers are expected to spend $147 on Valentine’s gifts, and $41 to buy flowers, on average. U.S. consumers are projected to spend almost $20 billion on Valentine’s presents.
“Every year we increase our operational resources to expedite incoming flower shipments,” said Domingo Mendez, UPS Air Cargo manager. “This year UPS is moving 560,000 boxes of flowers, that’s more than 8 million dozens of roses!”
To handle all those blooms, UPS has added 40 additional temperature-controlled flights. The flowers stay fresh in a refrigerated warehouse about the size of 5 basketball courts located in the UPS air cargo facility in Miami, where they are inspected and sorted for travel to their final destinations.
Those waiting until the last minute can ship as late as Friday, Feb. 12 using UPS Next Day Air to have gifts arrive on Valentine’s Day, the company noted.
