UPS takes Long Beach Airport flight slot given up by Delta Air Lines
Since May of last year, Delta has given up three of its seven daily flight slots.
As Delta Air Lines continues to reduce its presence at Long Beach Airport, multinational shipping and receiving company UPS has taken on an additional daily flight slot at the noise-controlled airfield.
Long Beach Airport’s noise ordinance strictly limits daily commercial flights to 58. On Aug. 2, Delta informed city staff it would relinquish one of its five daily flights, according to an Oct. 7 city memo.
The airport has a flight slot waiting list of five carriers, including, in order, Canada-based Swoop Airlines, Breeze Airways, Hawaiian Airlines, Southwest Airlines and UPS. On Sept. 3, the carriers were notified of the available slot, according to the memo. A deadline of Sept. 27 was given for carriers to formally request the flight.
Being the only carrier to request it by the deadline, UPS was awarded the flight slot — leaving the waitlist for future available slots unchanged.
In May 2023, Delta gave up two flight slots, which ultimately were awarded to Southwest, which currently holds 50 — or 86% — of daily flights at the airport.
With the new addition, UPS now has two daily flights. The remaining two flight slots are held by Hawaiian Airlines.
The additional slot for UPS should see monthly cargo tonnage coming into the airport increase. Cargo volumes dropped in 2021 when FedEx stopped using its one flight slot, ultimately relinquishing it.
The transportation, e-commerce and business services company had operated out of Long Beach for more than 30 years, at one point holding three daily flight slots.
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