UPS marks completion of $1.1 billion air hub expansion

LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY - United Parcel Service showed off a newly completed $1.1 billion expansion Friday that&#39;s meant to deliver greater speed and efficiency in handling packages at its main air hub. <br> <br> The seven-year project, the most expensive in UPS history, more than doubles the Louisville hub&#39;s sorting complex to four million square feet -- the equivalent of more than 80 football fields. The expanded facility features equipment to navigate packages through a labyrinth of high-speed conveyors for sorting and eventual shipment to places around the globe. <br> <br> The expanded hub, named UPS Worldport, will be capable of sorting 304,000 packages per hour, or more than 84 packages every second. Before expansion, UPS could sort 215,000 packages hourly at the hub. <br> <br> The hub has about 8,500 employees, most of whom are sorters and loaders. Total UPS employment in Louisville is about 23,000, which includes pilots, aircraft mechanics, drivers and management.