UPS has officially opened its newest flight training facility in Anchorage for locally-based pilotsto reduce the time they spend away from home for training.
Established to support all phases of flight training, the new facility will make itunnecessary for Anchorage-based pilots to fly to Louisville for training. UPS Airlines and its mainglobal Worldport® hub are located in Louisville.
Housing two flight simulators, classrooms and offices, the 8,230 sqm facility is the secondpilot training centre of its kind in the UPS network and will operate approximately 20 hours eachday.
“Anchorage is ideally positioned to be our gateway to Asia,” said UPS Airlines President BobLekites. “With growing small package and freight volume and expanding services in that region, weare excited about the potential continued growth in this city.”
In December 2006, UPS made Anchorage the home of a new pilot domicile. At present, 402crewmembers are based in Anchorage and that number is expected to increase to 438 by year’s end.Thirty-five employees, including training instructors, simulator technicians and administrativestaff, work at the new training facility.
The Anchorage Flight Training Facility was built in a converted hangar located at the southend of Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport. It houses UPS’s only 747-400 flight simulatoralong with its second MD-11 simulator. Both of those aircraft are used to provide the long-rangeinternational lift necessary for UPS to maintain its global reach.
