Fred Buys New Toys for Christmas

MrFedEx

Engorged Member
FedEx is ordering 4 more Boeing 767's and deferring 2 777's, as Fred tries to modernize his fleet. May I remind you that UPS made the intial order for the B767 Freighter in January of 1993, almost 20 years ago. This is how far behind the curve FedEx is relative to keeping up with the neighbors next door. I would call this failure to recognize and modernize a gross lack of leadership.

I picked-up a copy of an airline industry magazine recently that showed dozens of FedEx aircraft parked in the desert, never to fly again. The pictures showed numerous Airbus A310's and Douglas DC10's, along with a long row of 727's. These are mostly aircraft that FedEx continued to buy, convert from PAX to cargo, and then abandon after a much shorter than normal service life. Kind of like buying a new car, driving it for 3 years, and then leaving it out in the back pasture to rust away. Smart...very smart.

Oh, and the clause requiring that FedEx continue to have it's employees be covered under the Railway Labor Act is still in effect for 9 of the 777's on order. Just a reminder of the extent to which Fred will go to keep you underpaid and under his absolute control.
 

RTURNSONLY

Well-Known Member
A picture is worth 1,000 words...
fedexparked.jpg
fedexparked.jpg
 

MrFedEx

Engorged Member
A picture is worth 1,000 words...
View attachment 8066

The 727's are to be expected, but not the widebodies, especially the A310's. FedEx basically purchased the entire United Airlines DC10 fleet, the last of which was transferred over to FedEx ownership in August, 2002. As far as I know, all of these were converted to MD10's, which were supposed to have a service life of 20 years. The DC10 to MD10 conversion essentially creates a "new" aircraft. Currently, there are no more FedEx DC10's flying...everything Douglas is either an MD10 or an MD11.

This was a huge miscalculation on the part of Express management, and a failure of epic proportions. The B767F was readily available, and had been for 9 years. I can remember seeing freshly-converted MD10's still in UAL colors when I flew through OAK in 2005, so some of these planes are going to fly for less than 10 years and then be scrapped.

Work harder, not smarter.
 

RTURNSONLY

Well-Known Member
Ps. The pic above doesn't quite shows the real picture...there are many more 727's not shown here which the company has donated mostly to educational institutions, etc., (read tax breaks).
 

UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)

Well-Known Member
Ps. The pic above doesn't quite shows the real picture...there are many more 727's not shown here which the company has donated mostly to educational institutions, etc., (read tax breaks).

They donated one to our local aeronautical institute---I have to drive by the damn thing every night on my way home.:biting:
 
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