UPS Puts $5.3 Billion in Air Power Behind Overseas Expansion

  • U.S. package giant’s international growth outstrips domestic
  • Order of 747s marks courier’s first jet purchase since 2013
Photographer: Mark Elias/Bloomberg
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United Parcel Service Inc. is deepening its bet on international expansion by ordering 14 Boeing Co. 747 jumbo jets with a list value of $5.3 billion.

Daily package volume in UPS’s international division has climbed 58 percent in the past decade. U.S. volume, meanwhile, has increased just 16 percent. Though overseas volume remains smaller -- 2.8 million packages in the third quarter internationally versus 15.4 million in the U.S. -- the China and Hong Kong markets have been particularly strong recently.