MrFedEx
Engorged Member
Fred says he's "permanently" grounding 10 A310's and 4 MD10's in order to purchase more fuel efficient aircraft. Are they being sold? NO. Are they being scrapped? NO. Are they being mothballed in the desert until such time as FedEx needs them again? YES. FedEx can take a writedown on these planes, yet still bring them back in the future when volumes go up.
This is more of Fred's excrement to show Congress how absolutely dire our financial conditions are here at FedEx so he'll gain more support for continuing his bogus "Express Carrier" exemption. What a showman! He's pulling out all the stops on this one.
Let's analyze this a bit further. Our most fuel inefficient aircraft are 727's and DC10's, not A310's and MD10's. Both are relatively modern and fuel efficient, and both have 2-person crews, where a DC10 or 727 requires a 3-person crew. FedEx spent huge money to convert many DC10's into MD10's, which removes a flight engineer and makes many improvements to avionics and electronics systems. They are essentially new aircraft after the conversion, and it has only been a short time since most were converted, but they are being sacrificed for a larger cause.
Despite the fact that we're about to go under at any minute (if you believe Fred's BS) we can still afford new planes...lots of them. And guess who might make them? That's right, the Boeing Company, whom Fred has skillfully inserted as a bargaining wedge into the fight over the Express Carrier exemption.
Airlines have been parking planes in the Arizona desert for decades. When traffic levels rise, they put them back in the air, and when business falls off, they park them right back in the desert. Smith has openly admitted that his aircraft fleet ebbs and flows according to business cycles, so he isn't doing anything he already wasn't doing. Yes, 14 aircraft is more than normal, but not out of line with what one would expect in a recession.
Also, please notice which type of aircraft would be the potential replacment for either the A310 or the MD10. Why that would be the BOEING 777, wouldn't it, Mr Smith?
Hopefully, Congress isn't as stupid and gullible as you hope they are. This smells very bad, and I hope the UPS and Teamster lobbyists have also figured it out.
This is more of Fred's excrement to show Congress how absolutely dire our financial conditions are here at FedEx so he'll gain more support for continuing his bogus "Express Carrier" exemption. What a showman! He's pulling out all the stops on this one.
Let's analyze this a bit further. Our most fuel inefficient aircraft are 727's and DC10's, not A310's and MD10's. Both are relatively modern and fuel efficient, and both have 2-person crews, where a DC10 or 727 requires a 3-person crew. FedEx spent huge money to convert many DC10's into MD10's, which removes a flight engineer and makes many improvements to avionics and electronics systems. They are essentially new aircraft after the conversion, and it has only been a short time since most were converted, but they are being sacrificed for a larger cause.
Despite the fact that we're about to go under at any minute (if you believe Fred's BS) we can still afford new planes...lots of them. And guess who might make them? That's right, the Boeing Company, whom Fred has skillfully inserted as a bargaining wedge into the fight over the Express Carrier exemption.
Airlines have been parking planes in the Arizona desert for decades. When traffic levels rise, they put them back in the air, and when business falls off, they park them right back in the desert. Smith has openly admitted that his aircraft fleet ebbs and flows according to business cycles, so he isn't doing anything he already wasn't doing. Yes, 14 aircraft is more than normal, but not out of line with what one would expect in a recession.
Also, please notice which type of aircraft would be the potential replacment for either the A310 or the MD10. Why that would be the BOEING 777, wouldn't it, Mr Smith?
Hopefully, Congress isn't as stupid and gullible as you hope they are. This smells very bad, and I hope the UPS and Teamster lobbyists have also figured it out.
