Boeing 767s and other aircraft types absorb capacity through increased utilisation as extended grounding period now expected
The grounding of all MD-11Fs is not expected to have a major impact on international cargo capacity levels as most of the aircraft were operated on domestic services.
Analysis by Rotate consulting analyst Stein Dijkstra shows that 70% of MD-11F flights were operated on domestic services.
As a result, the aircraft represented only 0.4% of international capacity and the direct impact of the grounding has been limited, Rotate said.
The impact would have been greater if FedEx and UPS had made the decision to redeploy Boeing 747 and Boeing 777 freighters from international to domestic operations.
However, Rotate said this hadn’t so far been the case. Instead, MD-11F operations have mainly been covered by Boeing B767, Airbus A300 and Boeing B757 capacity, enabled by an increase in utilisation of these aircraft types from integrator’s domestic fleets.
The model was grounded earlier this month after a UPS plane was involved in a fatal crash as it took off from Louisville on 4 November.
Rotate figures show that in the week before the accident (27 October to 2 November), there were 329 flights conducted on legs with an MD-11F aircraft present.
In the week following the accident, there were a total of 333 flights across those same legs, with the Boeing 767 taking over from the MD-11F as the dominant aircraft.
Earlier this week, Western Global Airlines, which also operated MD-11Fs, warned that the grounding would last longer than initially expected.
It said that Boeing had originally anticipated that it would have approved a “noninvasive” inspection protocol to return the aircraft to service by 14 November.
However, Boeing has now advised that more and “highly invasive” inspections, as well as repairs and part replacements, would be required, resulting in the grounding of its MD-11F fleet for an “undeterminable” period of time.
