LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) -- UPS Inc. has announced plans to hire at least 100 pilots during the next year and said most of them will be based in Louisville.þþAdditional flight crews are needed because the company has new airplanes and is expecting to do more international flying, company spokesman Mark Giuffre said Tuesday. The pilots will be added through next year.þþAbout 40 percent of UPS's almost 2,500 pilots live in the Louisville area. The company has its main package-sorting hub at Louisville International Airport.þþNew pilots also will be based in Ontario, Calif., and Miami, Giuffre said.þþAn agreement between the United States and China to expand aviation rights is the reason UPS announced the hirings, Giuffre said. The U.S. Department of Transportation has not permanently awarded those rights to UPS, but it has tentatively approved 12 new weekly flights.þþ``We're really basing this on anticipated international growth,'' Giuffre said.þþUPS said in June that it is considering building an air hub in China and might increase flights between Louisville and China.þþUPS currently has six flights to Shanghai, and would increase its service there as well as starting flights to Guangzhou, which is inland from Hong Kong.þþPilots typically earn between $138,000 and $172,000 a year, according to figures from the pilots' union and UPS.þþOn Wednesday, UPS shares fell 29 cents to close at $76.40 on the New York Stock Exchange -- near the high end of its 52-week range of $66.26 to $77.60. þþ
Source: NY Times
