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UPS and FedEx may struggle to complete deliveries over the crucial holiday period after one of the main freighter jets in their air-cargo fleet was grounded. Fatal plane crash in Kentucky earlier this month.
The delivery giant is working to secure enough freighter vehicles after the tragedy that left their workhorse MD-11 fleet indefinitely grounded. the engine had exploded On November 4, a 34-year-old model took off, killing 14 people, including three crew members.
This is set to significantly complicate operations for companies as they prepare for the busiest season of the year, with shipping volumes beginning to surge ahead of Christmas.
“It’s creating a real capacity crunch for UPS and FedEx,” said Derek Lossing, founder of logistics consulting firm Cirrus Global Advisors. bloomberg, “They’ll adjust their network, but at the end of the day, they’re planning on flying those planes.”
Shocking footage shows the cargo plane flying very low, tilting to one side, before hitting the ground and exploding in a huge fireball. Satellite photos of the site, taken by the Vantour Data Intelligence company, show that the plane left a long, dark mark and a trail of debris on the ground.
The incident could spell the end for the remaining 109 MD-11 airliners, 26 of which belong to UPS, making up about 9 percent of its fleet, and the other 28 belong to FedEx, making up about 4 percent.
A report by safety investigators Thursday found cracks in the structure that connects the turbofan – a type of airbreathing jet engine – to the plane’s wing.
Companies are already considering retiring their MD-11s – which are on average more than 30 years old – in the coming years and replacing them with safer, more efficient planes. The FAA grounded all MD-11s and 10 remaining related DC-10s after the accident.
Their fate will be determined when UPS, FedEx and Western Global see how expensive the repairs ordered by the Federal Aviation Administration will be and learn whether there is a fatal flaw in their design.
Mary Schiavo, former inspector general of the US Department of Transportation, said it probably wouldn’t be worth fixing the planes when better alternatives would be available from Boeing and Airbus. However, manufacturers have so much backlog that it can take years to receive an aircraft after ordering one.
“For them to order inspections and ground them as promptly as they did, I think they are concerned about them,” Schiavo said.
An FAA spokesman said the agency is working with the NTSB and Boeing, which bought the company that made the MD-11 in 1997, to determine what needs to be done.