UPS has a fleet of 53 A300s and the first has just been handed back to the airline with a new flight deck. The new flight deck sports the Honeywell Primus as seen below. The picture below that shows what the original flight deck looked like. The work has been undertaken with Airbus closely involved.Â
The A300 upgrades follow a process the airline has been busy with on their 757s and 767s. The A300 fleet should be completed by the end of 2022. The first upgrade process took three weeks but as the others are put through the process, it is hoped the downtime will be reduced to two weeks.
The new flight deck is “a similar weight” to the original according to UPS. Two MROs are tasked with the work and a third may be stood up if needed. The new flight deck provides crews with better situational awareness, better weather radar, TCAS is integrated and the aircraft can now land at airports where there is no ILS. This means more airports are now accessible to the UPS A300 fleet. While no international routes are planned, the refreshed A300 is now a more flexible tool. Interestingly, UPS noted the shorter wing on the A300 helps it serve smaller markets.
UPS advised that the A300 fits well within their fleet; their 757s carry 15 containers on the main deck, the A300s carry 21 and the 767s carry 24. As US domestic markets grow, UPS are now able to upgrade to two daily A300s as needed. Since these aircraft do a maximum of four cycles per day, the upgrade allows UPS to consider keeping them in service to 2040.
