United Airlines, the world's largest airline, plans to start a cargo freighter service between New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport and the Pacific Rim from March 2.
However, the carrier will suspend its freighter service to San Francisco and Taipei. Customers in these areas can ship cargo on United's daily non-stop Boeing 747-400 passenger service.
United also increasing its freighter service flights to Manila from twice weekly to between three and five times a week during peak seasons.
'United Cargo remains committed to providing a reliable freighter operation in the trans-Pacific marketplace,' Jim Hartigan, vice-president of United Airlines Cargo, said.
'The market conditions in Asia prompted us to conduct a thorough review of the current and future shipping requirements of our customers,' he said.
He said the airline, by adding New York to its freighter network, would be able to meet the increasing demand for access to Asian destinations from the eastern United States.
With the schedule change, United will operate a service between Chicago, New York (JFK), Los Angeles, Tokyo, Osaka and Manila from its hub in Anchorage, Alaska.
