Category: Industry News

Some American cargo airlines have stopped flying over Russia, even though they haven’t been banned from its airspace in the wake of U.S. sanctions introduced last week.

United Parcel Service Inc. is among those air carriers taking longer, alternative routings on flights to and from the U.S. and Asia, adding flight time and higher fuel costs to the already stretched global supply chain.

U.S. cargo carriers such as UPS, FedEx Corp., Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings Inc. and Kalitta Air LLC regularly flew over Russia before the invasion of Ukraine and continued for several days after. They have been almost absent since the U.S. banned Russian aircraft from its airspace on March 2.

FedEx, UPS and other cargo carriers including the DHL unit of Deutsche Post AG had already suspended delivery services to and from Russia.

Carriers, including KLM Royal Dutch Airlines and United Parcel Service, are filling their planes with pricier fuel for longer Asia routes to avoid Russia due to airspace closures. Jet fuel prices in the United States this week hit the highest in more than a decade.

The U.S. on Tuesday joined Canada and much of Europe in barring Russian aircraft from its airspace. In January, more than 2,500 flights that departed the U.S. used Russian airspace, while 493 flights from Russia used U.S. airspace, according to aviation data firm Cirium.

“With the uncertainty of Russian airspace restrictions to civilian aircraft, UPS decided on Mar. 1 to avoid use of Russian airspace for our Northern Pacific (NOPAC) operations until further notice,” UPS’ pilots union told aviators Wednesday.

According to a 2021 report from the Strategic Organizing Center, contract delivery drivers working for Amazon are injured at higher rates in comparison to UPS.

The labor union based its findings on data collected by the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

The report found that Amazon drivers are injured more often and more seriously than UPS drivers.

In 2020, Amazon drivers experienced 13.3 injuries for every 100 employees. In comparison, UPS drivers sustained 9 injuries per 100 employees.

UPS and FedEx are not delivering packages in Russia and Ukraine due to ongoing conflict.

UPS also stopped service to Belarus, which has been supporting Russia’s invasion in Ukraine.

“Our focus is on the safety of our people, providing continued service and minimizing disruption to our customers,” UPS said.

The companies said they are monitoring the situation and hope to resume service when it’s safe.

While incumbent cargo airlines UPS and FedEx have just about reached saturation point, Amazon Air is just starting out.

Amazon has been dabbling in the cargo market for several years, having initially operated as Amazon Prime Air from 2015. In 2017, it changed its name to Amazon Air to differentiate itself from its drone delivery service. However, even then, it continued to rely on wet-leased air cargo capacity and did not own its own aircraft.

In December 2018, Amazon Air committed to the lease of an additional 10 Boeing 767 freighters from Air Transport Services Group (ATSG), taking its total fleet to 50 airplanes. All were being operated by either ATSG or Atlas Air, as Amazon does not have an Air Operators Certificate (AOC) or any crew of its own.