UPS announced a new direct flight segment from Kaunas, Lithuania, to its European air hub in Cologne, Germany.
With this introduction, UPS will be able to offer much later collection times for export shipments from the country through its authorized service contractor, while also adding capacity to move more volume.
“UPS is keen to help businesses of any size in Lithuania successfully trade in today’s fast-paced global economy. By extending the collection times, we are working to meet the needs of businesses, large and small, looking to expand into international markets,” said Daniel Carrera, President, UPS East Europe, during a ceremonial event in Vilnius to celebrate the new flight. “UPS can now offer companies in Lithuania up to three additional hours of production time due to the later collection times.”
Lithuania is home to businesses operating in manufacturing, textiles, retail and e-commerce, high-tech and healthcare. With this improvement, UPS will be able to offer collection times as late as 20:00 for UPS Express export shipments from Lithuania.
The new route is operated with an ATR-72 aircraft that arrives in Kaunas from Cologne at 08:00 Monday through Friday, before continuing on to Riga. Returning to Cologne, the flight departs Kaunas at 21:50. Operated by SprintAir, the aircraft has a payload capacity of over 8 tons, more than doubling the previous capacity on the route.
In addition to improvements to express services, UPS has recently improved shipping times for customers in Lithuania using UPS Standard, UPS’s most economical ground service. These customers now benefit from one day less shipping time for packages sent to areas of Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and Spain.
UPS began offering its service in Lithuania in 1991 through its authorized service contractor, Skubios Siuntos, offering customers a broad portfolio of package, freight and contract logistics offerings.