UPS Airlines (5X, Louisville International) has announced that it will start taking redeliveries of A300-600(F)s with retrofitted avionics in 2020, significantly extending the type's operational life.
"Airbus conducted a successful test flight of our first A300 with a heavily upgraded cockpit installed. We’re retrofitting our entire Airbus fleet of fifty-two planes... A series of test flights will continue through February 2020, and the first aircraft is scheduled to return to service later that year," the American cargo specialist said.
The retrofitting is conducted in cooperation with Honeywell and includes far-reaching changes to the aircraft's avionics, including installation of a new flight management system, a new GPS navigation system, a new weather radar, a new integrated Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System for digital communications, and other changes.
According to the ch-aviation Commercial Aviation Aircraft Data modules, the first A300-600(F) to be retrofitted is N173UP (msn 868). The aircraft was ferried from Louisville International to Toulouse Blagnac on February 19, 2019. The retrofitting of UPS's entire fleet of fifty-two A300s is likely to take a few years.
The carrier's Airbus freighters are 16.9 years old on average. UPS Airlines also operates thirteen B747-400Fs, fourteen B747-8Fs, seventy-five B757-200PFs, sixty-nine B767-300Fs, and thirty-seven MD-11Fs. The B757 and B767 freighters are also undergoing avionics retrofitting to extend their service life. The carrier's entire fleet is 19.6 years old on average.
