NEW YORK – United Parcel Service Inc. (UPS) said on Monday it had placed an order for 10 Airbus A380 (search) super-jumbo freighter jets to expand its capacity to handle strong international growth.
The world's largest package delivery company said its order gives UPS the option to buy 10 more of the aircraft, which can carry three decks of cargo and fly nonstop to places around the world that used to take two or more flights.
The purchase price was not disclosed.
Deliveries of the A380s, Airbus' answer to the Boeing 747 (search), are scheduled to begin in 2009 and run through 2012. UPS has not yet made an engine selection for the A380.
UPS and Airbus have also agreed to amend a previous order for A300 aircraft. The package delivery company is reducing its previous order for 90 planes to 53. To date, Airbus has delivered 40 A300s and the remaining 13 will be delivered by July 2006.
The A380 orders come as package delivery and logistics companies like UPS are seeing sharp increases in global shipment, especially to and from Asia.
In the third quarter, UPS's total international export volume rose more than 13 percent, with Asian shipments climbing 29 percent from the year-earlier period.
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