Package carriers are expected to work like a magical fleet of reindeer during the holiday season and a tragic crash from earlier this month could make that feat even harder this year, according to reports.
“UPS and FedEx could struggle to fulfill deliveries over the crucial holiday period after one of the main freighter jets in their air-cargo fleet was grounded following the deadly plane crash in Kentucky earlier this month,” said the Independent in a Monday report. Bloomberg said the companies were scrambling to secure enough freighters.
That’s in part because the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration grounded Boeing Company Model MD-11 and MD-11F airplanes following the fatal Nov. 4 crash. According to the National Transportation Safety Board, UPS flight 2976, a Boeing (McDonnell-Douglas) MD-11F airplane, was destroyed when it plummeted to the ground shortly after takeoff from Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport (SDF), Louisville, Ky. Overall, 14 people – three crew members and 11 people on the ground – died and 23 people were injured, the NTSB said.
MD-11s make up approximately 9% of the UPS Airlines fleet (26 planes), per the company, and FedEx has 28 MD-11s. The Independent said the companies may now be planning on possibly retiring the planes altogether and replacing them, but that process could take time.
“It’s creating a real capacity crunch for UPS and FedEx,” said Derek Lossing, founder of logistics consulting firm Cirrus Global Advisors, of the MD-11 issue ahead of the holidays, according to Bloomberg. “They will adjust their networks, but at the end of the day, they were planning on flying those aircraft.”
Skies were already tense at the time of the crash due to the government shutdown that prevented payment for air traffic controllers. UPS also recently announced that it would slash jobs.
While FedEx and UPS face a holiday season lacking key aircraft, Postmaster General David Steiner said in a Nov. 14 statement that the U.S. Postal Service was “more than ready to deliver for the 2025 holiday season.”
“With more than $20 billion in investments over the past four years, the Postal Service has the capacity and infrastructure to process, transport and deliver for our customers,” he said. Steiner added that the service increased its package processing capacity from 60 million to 88 million through the deployment of more than 600 package sorters, including 94 installed this year.