MD-11 fleet grounding after UPS crash unlikely to end before 2026, source says

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By David Shepardson, Allison Lampert and Lisa Baertlein

-The vast grounding of MD-11 jets after a fiery crash this month involving one of the planes, is unlikely to end before 2026, a source told Reuters on Wednesday, driving industry demand for alternatives as peak delivery season kicks off this week.

Testing following the November 4 crash of a UPS MD-11 jet that killed 14 in Louisville, Kentucky, must advance before planemaker Boeing and the Federal Aviation Administration can agree on inspection criteria to unground the planes.

Inspection guidelines allowing the jets, grounded by the FAA just days after the crash, to fly again would likely come next year, said the source who spoke about the private matter on condition of anonymity. It’s the latest indication that the industry’s air cargo workhorses will stay grounded longer than expected.

U.S. parcel giant UPS (UPS.N) said it is leasing more aircraft than usual, while rival FedEx said it is deploying spare aircraft and “leveraging” some opportunities to charter planes.

UPS and FedEx together count just over 50 MD-11 jets in their respective fleets which have hundreds of planes. And while air cargo demand is expected to only grow slightly year-over-year, delivery firms can see average daily package volume double during the holiday season. 

Inspections on the planes were generally expected earlier.

FedEx CFO John Dietrich told a November 11 conference that inspections of its operating fleet of 25 MD-11 airplanes were expected to start in the coming days.

An executive at the U.S. cargo carrier Western Global Airlines said in a letter it would have to furlough pilots since it expected the grounding of the model which accounts for most of its fleet to be short-lived. 

The letter was shared on social media on Monday by pilot and podcaster Nik Fialka. It said Boeing has advised that “more and highly invasive inspections, as well as repairs and part replacements would be required.”

Western Global, which lists FedEx and UPS as clients on its website, did not return a request for comment. 

A Boeing spokesperson said its team is providing instructions and technical support to operators. The U.S. planemaker acquired the MD-11 program through its 1997 merger with McDonnell Douglas.

Last week, the chair of the National Transportation Safety Board, which is leading the investigation into the UPS crash, signaled that there was still extensive work to do.

“We have a lot of the pieces back in the lab, and they’re continuing to do work,” NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy told Reuters.

(Reporting by David Shepardson in Washington, Allison Lampert in Montreal and Lisa Baertlein in Los Angeles; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama )