UPS, FedEx ground MD-11 cargo planes on recommendations of Boeing

[UPS Cargo Plane Crashes In Louisville]
Stephen Cohen/Getty Images News

UPS (UPS [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/UPS]) and FedEx (FDX [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/FDX]), two of the leading cargo airlines in the world, have grounded their fleets of McDonnell Douglas MD-11 planes on the recommendations of the aircraft’s manufacturer, Boeing (BA [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/BA]), after the plane was involved in a deadly crash this week.

The decision came after an MD-11 aircraft operated by UPS (UPS [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/UPS]) crashed on Wednesday, immediately after departing for Honolulu from Muhammad Ali International Airport in Louisville, Ky., killing all three pilots aboard and another 11 civilians on the ground. [https://seekingalpha.com/news/4515398-ups-cargo-plane-crash-louisville-kentucky]

“Out of an abundance of caution and in the interest of safety, we have made the decision to temporarily ground our MD-11 fleet,” UPS (UPS [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/UPS]) said in a statement late Friday, adding that contingency plans are in place to ensure an uninterrupted service [https://about.ups.com/us/en/newsroom/statements/ups-statement-on-md-11-fleet.html] to its customers.

“We made this decision proactively at the recommendation of the aircraft manufacturer,” the company noted, and added that grounding takes effect immediately and MD-11s make up about 9% of its airline fleet.

Issuing a similar statement, FedEx (FDX [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/FDX]) spokeswoman Heather Wilson said, “Out of an abundance of caution, we have made the decision to immediately ground [https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/08/us/ups-fedex-cargo-planes-grounded.html] our MD-11 fleet as we conduct a thorough safety review based on the recommendation of the manufacturer.” MD-11s are around 4% of the FedEx fleet.

Boeing (BA [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/BA]), which acquired MD-11 maker McDonnell Douglas in the 1990s, said in a statement early Saturday that it recommended the grounding of the wide-body airliner as further analysis is underway.

“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,” The New York Times reported, quoting Boeing (BA [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/BA]).

Western Global Airlines, the other operator of MD-11s, did not [https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/08/us/ups-fedex-cargo-planes-grounded.html] immediately respond to requests for comments.

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