Flying Planes Closer Together Boosts Biggest FedEx Hub - Bloomberg
With a policy change at one airport, FedEx Corp. (FDX) went from having to hold up departures at its biggest hub to getting planes out as fast as it could line them up.
The largest air-cargo hauler has increased hourly arrivals in Memphis, Tennessee, by more than 20 percent and cut average taxi times before takeoff by 3 minutes since U.S. regulators decided it was safe for wide-body aircraft to fly closer to each other. The change was the equivalent of adding a runway at the world’s second-busiest freight airport.
A planned expansion to more airports is poised to benefit United Parcel Service Inc. (UPS) and passenger airlines. FedEx credits the pilot program in Memphis for 7 percent of its fuel savings this year and improved efficiency in sorting as many as 1.5 million packages a night.
With a policy change at one airport, FedEx Corp. (FDX) went from having to hold up departures at its biggest hub to getting planes out as fast as it could line them up.
The largest air-cargo hauler has increased hourly arrivals in Memphis, Tennessee, by more than 20 percent and cut average taxi times before takeoff by 3 minutes since U.S. regulators decided it was safe for wide-body aircraft to fly closer to each other. The change was the equivalent of adding a runway at the world’s second-busiest freight airport.
A planned expansion to more airports is poised to benefit United Parcel Service Inc. (UPS) and passenger airlines. FedEx credits the pilot program in Memphis for 7 percent of its fuel savings this year and improved efficiency in sorting as many as 1.5 million packages a night.
