US cargo company UPS last night (Saturday) started conducting flights to Israel. The company will transport cargo between Tel Aviv and Cologne, Germany, from where it will be shipped to the US. To date, UPS flew cargo to Israel through other airlines.
At the first stage, UPS will operate one weekly Israel-Germany flight using a Boeing 757-200, capable of transporting 40 tons of cargo. UPS’s main competitor FedEx has been operating flights to and from Israel for several years.
UPS has a 29% share of the Israeli export cargo market and 20% of the import cargo market. It has a fleet of 60 distribution trucks and a computerized operations system spread over five branches in Israel and a staff of 260.
The background to the company’s entry into the Israeli direct flights market stems, among other things, from the FedEx decision to expand activity in Israel.
Ben Gurion International Airport posted a 13% rise in cargo in the first half of the year, compared to the corresponding period in 1999. In January-June 2000, 178,000 tons of cargo were shipped through Ben Gurion International Airport, compared with 157,500 in the corresponding period last year.
Published by Israel's Business Arena on 12 November, 2000