FedEx is now operating the vast majority of its fleet of MD-11F aircraft following the model’s temporary grounding last year.
Data from the flight-tracking website FlightRadar24 shows that of the 28 MD-11Fs listed as being part of the FedEx fleet, 20 have conducted flights over the last seven days.
Most of the aircraft have been operating on the express giant’s US and Canadian network, although there have been a couple of flights to Singapore in the last week.
Speaking in June, the company’s chief executive and president, Rajesh Subramaniam, said he hoped to have all aircraft back in operation in time for this year’s fourth-quarter peak season.
At the time, FedEx was operating four of the aircraft. It began the process of re-integrating its MD-11Fs in May.
The model was grounded back in November after the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued an Emergency Airworthiness Directive (AD) that ordered owners and operators of MD-11 freighters to inspect their aircraft for faults following the fatal crash of a UPS MD-11F on 4 November last year.
The accident resulted in the deaths of three pilots onboard and 12 people on the ground.
US investigators have been seeking to understand why a history of bearing failures on Boeing MD-11 pylons did not lead to sufficient corrective action before last November’s accident.
Fatigue in the bearing race housed between two pylon bulkhead lugs — which anchor the aft section of the engine pylon to the wing — could cause the race to split and migrate, leading to abnormal stress on the lugs.
The National Transportation Safety Board believes a stress fracture of both lugs, resulting in aft pylon detachment from the wing, caused the UPS MD-11F’s left engine to pivot upwards and separate on rotation.
Multiple instances of similar bearing race failures on MD-11 pylons, including three on FedEx aircraft since June 2020, were detailed on 19 May during the opening day of the safety board’s hearing into the accident.
As well as FedEx, US freighter airline Western Global also started the process of returning its four MD-11 freighters to operation in May, with at least three of the aircraft now conducting regular flights.
In contrast to FedEx and Western Global, UPS retired all its MD-11Fs in the fourth quarter of 2025 and said it will replace these aircraft with Boeing 767Fs.
Although FedEx decided to continue operating MD-11Fs, it has retired five of the type.
