UPS and FedEx, two of the world’s largest cargo airlines, said late Friday that they had grounded their MD-11 planes, days after one of the planes was involved in a deadly crash in Kentucky.
Both carriers said they had taken the step to immediately ground their MD-11s on the recommendation of the plane’s manufacturer. The MD-11 was originally produced by McDonnell Douglas, which Boeing acquired in the 1990s.
“With safety as our top priority, we recommended to the three operators of the MD-11 Freighter that they suspend flight operations while additional engineering analysis is performed,” Boeing said in a statement early Saturday.
A UPS MD-11 crashed on Tuesday just after taking off from Muhammad Ali International Airport in Louisville, Kentucky, killing all three pilots on board and 11 people on the ground.
The plane’s left engine had detached from the wing, according to the National Transportation and Safety Board.
“Out of an abundance of caution and in the interest of safety, we have decided to temporarily ground our MD-11 fleet,” UPS said in a statement.
FedEx issued a similar statement.
“Out of an abundance of caution we have made the decision to immediately ground our MD-11 fleet as we conduct a thorough safety review based on the recommendation of the manufacturer,” said Heather Wilson, a FedEx spokesperson.
The Federal Aviation Administration on Saturday evening issued an emergency airworthiness directive for all MD-11 and MD-11F planes. The directive grounds those planes until they are inspected and FAA-approved action is taken to fix any issues.
The agency issued the directive after it determined that the detached engine issue that led to the UPS plane crash “is likely to exist or develop in other products of the same type design,” which could “result in loss of continued safe flight and landing.”
Western Global Airlines, the third cargo airline that flies MD-11s, did not immediately respond to a request for comment submitted outside regular business hours.
There are about 70 MD-11 cargo planes in service. UPS said in its statement Friday that MD-11s are about 9% of its fleet. FedEx has 28 MD-11s, about 4% of its fleet.
At the end of last year, UPS had 29 MD-11s in its fleet of 534 aircraft, according to the company’s annual report.
At the end of May, FedEx had 34 MD-11s in a fleet of 698 aircraft, according to its annual report. FedEx said in the report that it had “extended the retirement of the entire Boeing MD-11 fleet from 2028 to the end of 2032.”
UPS and FedEx both own and lease planes. Both companies said they had activated contingency plans to minimize disruptions from the grounding.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
