United Cargo announced that it has operated more than 11,000 cargo-only flights carrying more than 570 million pounds of freight a year since its first flight carrying cargo without passengers on board.
In a statement, the cargo arm of United Airlines said to support the COVID-19 pandemic recovery efforts, it has also transported more than 113 million pounds of medical and pharmaceutical products on both cargo-only and passenger flights as well as approximately 10 million COVID-19 vaccines, providing global communities access to the items they have needed most.
On March 19 last year, United flew its first cargo-only flight with passenger cabin empty, but its cargo hold completely full, carrying more than 29,000 pounds of commodities from Chicago O'Hare International Airport (ORD) to Frankfurt Airport (FRA).
"At the beginning of the pandemic, we knew we were uniquely positioned to utilize our widebody aircraft and our network to keep commodities moving, so we quickly mobilized various departments throughout the airline to launch a cargo-only network of flights that would keep commodities moving," said Jan Krems, United Cargo president.
"Thanks to those efforts, United Cargo has delivered millions of items to countries all around the world. We would not have been successful without the steadfast support of our employees, industry partners and our customers."
Since last March, United Cargo has transported almost 850 million pounds of freight on cargo-only and passenger flights.
The airline said it will continue to monitor market trends adjust its cargo-only flight schedules to help ensure we are meeting our customer's evolving shipping needs.