UPS opens flight simulator in Alaska

UPS has opened a flight simulator center at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport for its Alaska-based pilots. The investment reflects how UPS has increased its flights to Asia.

The 27,000-square-foot center, with simulators for 747-400s and MD-11s, will train pilots on the long-range airplanes that are the workhorses for Pacific flights. The new facility cost $6.7 million.

Four hundred of UPS’ 2,923 pilots start their flights in Anchorage. That number is projected to grow.

The Anchorage simulator center is only the company’s second such facility. The other is at Worldport, the company’s main hub in Louisville, Ky.

“Anchorage is ideally positioned to be our gateway to Asia,” said UPS Airline President Bob Lekites in a statement. Spokesman Norman Black said that UPS has nearly 200 flights a week through Anchorage.

— Rachel Tobin Ramos