Emergency airworthiness directive affects 57 active MD-11F freighters operated by FedEx, UPS and Western Global, with sources warning of capacity shortfalls
Air cargo rates are expected to rise over the coming days as a result of the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) decision to ground all MD-11Fs following last week’s fatal crash.
In a weekly market update, freight rate provider TAC Index said that last week global airfreight rates had risen by 2% compared with a week earlier and were now 3.7% down on a year earlier.
The weekly increase was described as “unexceptional” given that the industry is in the midst of the peak season when prices tend to rise.
However, there are expectations that rates will rise in the coming days and weeks following the FAA move to ground MD-11Fs.
"Sources were viewing this as unexceptional for a period when the market enters the height of peak season – though that was before the fatal crash of a UPS cargo plane in Louisville, which has prompted the grounding of all MD-11 cargo planes operated by FedEx and Western Global as well as UPS," TAC said in its weekly update.
”Sources suggest this could have a significant effect on capacity in the coming days, particularly on transpacific routes – where the majority of MD-11 freighters operate – and impact on rates in the coming days.”
Max Kingsley-Jones, head of advisory at Cirium Ascend Consultancy, said in a recent LinkedIn post that Cirium data showed that as of 5 November, there are 57 MD-11Fs flying with FedEx, UPS and Western Global Airlines.
FedEx has 27 MD-11Fs, UPS has 26 and Western Global has four. Another 51 of the type are in storage.
FlightRadar24 data suggests that the model is mainly used on domestic US operations.
Over the last seven days, 18 of the UPS MD-11F aircraft had only flown domestic US services, while four were mostly used for domestic flights with the occasional stop in Canada and four hadn’t flown during that period.
FedEx flies its aircraft more on international operations than UPS, with 13 having conducted only domestic US flights over the past seven days; a further five conducted domestic flights and flights to Canada; five more conducted intercontinental and domestic flights, including locations such as Stansted, Osaka and Guangzhou; four only conducted international flights to Seoul, Guangzhou, Taipei, Tokyo, Singapore and Osaka; and one has not flown over the past seven days.
Western Global’s four MD-11Fs are largely used on international services to locations such as Ostend, Seoul, Hong Kong, Rota and Beersheba.
While most of the flights conducted by MD-11Fs are utilised on domestic US operations, there are still a significant number of flights conducted internationally.
Also, capacity may need to be pulled from other areas in order to make up for the US domestic shortfall, which could have repercussions elsewhere.
Over the weekend, the FAA issued an Emergency Airworthiness Directive (AD) that orders owners and operators of MD-11 freighters to inspect their aircraft for faults before they fly.
This emergency AD, 2025-23-51, was prompted by the fatal crash of a UPS MD-11F after taking off from Louisville, US on 4 November. The incident, which involved the left-hand engine and pylon detaching from the airplane during takeoff, is currently under investigation.
