A yellow ‘X’ marks areas of Muhammad Ali Louisville International Airport that are closed following the crash of a UPS cargo plane in Louisville, Kentucky, U.S., November 5, 2025. Michael Clevenger/USA Today Network via Imagn Images via REUTERS
LOS ANGELES, (Reuters) – UPS said on Wednesday it would reopen its sprawling air cargo hub in Louisville, Kentucky, after temporarily shuttering it a day earlier due to a deadly plane crash, a move that will begin easing delays in the delivery firm’s global network.
The Worldport hub processes millions of packages for roughly 360 incoming and outbound aircraft each day, giving it a critical role in the UPS air cargo operation’s hub-and-spoke model.
“Our goal is to begin returning the network to a normal cadence with flights arriving at destinations Thursday morning,” UPS spokesperson Jim Mayer said.
The company stopped Worldport operations on Tuesday night after a UPS cargo plane bound for Honolulu crashed just after takeoff at Louisville International Airport, killing at least 12 people, including three flight crew members, according to local officials.
UPS early on Wednesday also canceled the mid-morning to mid-afternoon shift at the 5.2-million-square-foot (483,096-square-meter) facility that is roughly the size of 89 U.S. football fields and can process 416,000 packages per hour.
In a service alert on Tuesday, UPS said scheduled delivery times for air and international packages may be affected and that it had contingency plans in place to help limit disruption. Customer alerts seen by Reuters on Wednesday showed packages stalled at UPS regional hubs like Ontario, California, and Rockford, Illinois.
Because many UPS packages pass through Worldport on their way to other destinations, there will be inevitable delays and disruptions for UPS customers, said Niall van de Wouw, chief airfreight officer at transportation pricing platform Xeneta.
“For every day of closure, it could take several days for air cargo to recover, especially as we are now heading towards year-end peak season,” he said, referring to the upcoming winter holiday rush for air cargo shipments.
He said he expected limited impact on wider air cargo services and freight rates.
UPS shares closed down 0.3% at $92.91 on Wednesday.
UPS DELAYS WILL BE FAR-REACHING
Any UPS delays will be far-reaching since its customers for delivery and return services include a broad swath of U.S. businesses and agencies.
UPS since September 2024 has been the No. 1 air cargo service provider for the U.S. Postal Service, transporting Priority and other speedy mail products.
The USPS is working closely with UPS to assess the duration of the impact of volume moving under the contract, a postal service spokesperson said.
Amazon.com is the largest customer at UPS, which also delivers parcels for Walmart and Target, as well as for manufacturers and businesses.
Beyond that, more than 150 UPS customers, including major pharmaceutical companies like Merck & Co, also have inventory at Worldport.
UPS customers mentioned above did not immediately comment on potential delays.
Florida-based contact lens seller ABB Optical Group said on Wednesday it warned customers that some of its shipments could be delayed due to the UPS accident “out of an abundance of caution and transparency.”
The delivery firm can divert some packages bound for Worldport to other regional and international hubs, said Satish Jindel, founder of shipping consultancy ShipMatrix.
FlightAware showed UPS planes flying between U.S. hubs in what appeared to be an effort to bypass Worldport. There were Honolulu and Philadelphia flights to Ontario, California, while flights from Ontario were destined for Boston, Dallas-Fort Worth and Philadelphia.
UPS has a large international operation with customs capabilities in Philadelphia, Jindel said. FlightAware showed UPS planes flying from that airport to Cologne in Germany, Paris and the UK.
Those workarounds will likely slow packages, Jindel said.
“Facilities were never designed to replace Louisville,” Jindel said.
FlightAware data late on Wednesday showed 10 aircraft flying into the Louisville airport from destinations including London, Philadelphia, Anchorage, Alaska, and Palm Beach, Florida. A UPS cargo plane that departed from Louisville is scheduled to arrive in Cologne on Thursday morning.
Reporting by Lisa Baertlein in Los Angeles and Allison Lampert in Montreal; Editing by Aurora Ellis, Christopher Cushing and Jamie Freed
