Boeing drops 767-200ER and 767-400ER, launches 767-2CFX in latest pricing update

by Vinay Bhaskara

A 767-300F - Image Credit: Boeing

American aircraft manufacturer Boeing has released its latest aircraft pricing update, and there were several changes made. Firstly, the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) has dropped the 767-200ER and 767-400ER variants from its 767 product line. These aircraft can no longer be purchased by customers, though if a sizable enough order comes through for Boeing, they could easily re-start production, unlike the 757, whose production line has been retooled for the 737.

The 767-200ER was among the first 767 aircraft offered by Boeing, launching in 1982, the year its standard range cousin, the 767-200, entered service. Ethiopian Airlines was the launch customer for the type in December 1982. Over the years, the smaller 767-200ER was rapidly eclipsed by the larger 767-300 variant, which became the dominant variant in the overall program with 807 ordered (out of 1108 program wide) as of the June Boeing orders and deliveries (also O&D) spreadsheet. Overall, 121 767-200ERs were ordered and delivered, and 39 remain in passenger service. American Airlines is the largest operator with 12 in its fleet used on premium transcontinental routes within the US, though these aircraft will be retired quickly as American takes delivery of their replacement; the Airbus A321.

The 767-400ER was a bit more of an oddball, with only 2 operators (Delta Air Lines, and Continental Airlines - now United Airlines) ordering a total of 38 aircraft. Delta currently has 21 767-400ERs in its fleet, though some of these aircraft may be eventually replaced with the carrier's recent order for 10 additional Airbus A330-300s, while United has 16 frames remaining. The 767-400ER was designed to compete with the aforementioned A330-300, but largely failed to do so, with the A330-300 having won 635 orders over the course of its lifetime.

The 767 program itself had a seemingly bleak future as recently as 3 years ago, with orders slowing to a crawl (primarily existing 767 operators such as ANA and LAN ordering the 767-300ER as interim lift due to the 787 delays). But in February 2011, Boeing won a landmark aerial refueling tanker deal from the United States Air Force, worth nearly $30 billion over the contract's lifetime, with a design based around the 767 called the KC-46A. This made it possible for Boeing to extend the life cycle of the commercial variants of the 767, winning further orders, most notably for 46 767-300Fs from FedEx in 2011-12.

Interestingly, the commercial version of the KC-46A, the 767-2CFX has been added to the pricing table, though no price has been set for the aircraft yet. The table with updated prices from Boeing can be seen below. Interestingly, despite Lufthansa's order for 34 777X family (777-9) aircraft announced today, the type has not yet been formally launched. In all likelihood, formal launch will occur at this years Dubai Air Show, alongside a massive order from Emirates.

Aircraft	Price ($ million)
737
737-700	76.0
737-800	90.5
737-900ER	96.1
737 MAX 7	85.1
737 MAX 8	103.7
737 MAX 9	109.9
747
747-8i	356.9
747-8F	357.5
767
767-300ER	185.8
767-300F	188.0
767-2CFX	TBD
777
777-200ER	261.5
777-200LR	296.0
777-300ER	320.2
777F	300.5
787
787-8	211.8
787-9	249.5
787-10	288.7

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FedEx Express takes delivery of its first Boeing 767 freighter

by BA Staff

Global express shipping giant FedEx Express, has taken delivery of its first 767-300 Freighter. The 767-300F will replace the carrier's ageing DC-10 freighters.

The 767 Freighter is based on the popular 767-300ER (extended range) passenger airplane and is able to carry approximately 52 metric tons of revenue cargo with intercontinental range. The aircraft will give FedEx the flexibility to fly longer but less dense routes, as well as shorter and extremely dense routes.

James R. Parker, executive vice president of Air Operations, FedEx Express said

The 767 is approximately 30 percent more fuel efficient and has unit operating costs that are more than 20 percent lower than the aircraft they will replace.

FedEx Express will also be able to share parts, tooling and flight simulators between the 767 and the more than 70 757 freighters already in its fleet.

FedEx already operates the venerable MD-11F and 777F from Boeing as well as A300 from Airbus as its mainstay jet freighters.

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Video: Plane spotting at New Delhi Airport - Songs of Runway 28

Hope you had a good holiday. Turn the volume up for this one. Another of our videos from New Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport, thanks to the team at Delhi International Airport Ltd.

This one focusses on the sounds heard at the runway from various aircraft and their many engines. Hope you enjoy.



As usual comments, praises, or brick-bats are always welcome.

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Photo: FedEx freighter aircraft line-up at New Delhi. One of the planes has a very interesting history.

A shot of the cargo ramp at New Delhi's Indira Gandhi international airport, FedEx Express' main hub in India.

If you observe the photo correctly, there is something unusual about this photo. Don't fully scroll down. Try to see only the photo and see if you can spot the feature? The answer is below the photograph.

The line-up consists one each of the wide-body freighter aircraft operated to India by FedEx Express. In the foreground is the Boeing 777F, followed by the Airbus A310-300F, and the venerable tri-engined McDonnell Douglas (now Boeing) MD-11F, the favourite aircraft of Bangalore Aviation regular and prolific spotter, M. Azizul Islam of London. (See his over 6,300 photos here).

Many people ask why do we spotters go to such lengths to take photographs of planes? Its simple. Apart from their beauty, behind every plane, there is a story, there is a history.

The Boeing 777 freighter in the picture N850FD has a very interesting story.

In keeping with FedEx Express' tradition of naming aircraft after the children of its employees, the aircraft is named Saad, after Saad Zia, the seven-month-old son of New Jersey based staffer Kashif Zia. This very aircraft, N850FD, is featured by FedEx in its media centre to highlight this tradition.

N850FD also has another notable achievement. It was delivered by Boeing to FedEx Express on September 25, 2009. In February 2010 this aircraft was given a special livery (see video of the decal application) and was temporarily called "Panda Express" to commemorate its carriage of two giant Pandas non-stop from Washington DC Dulles airport in the United States, back to Chengdu in China.

The plane returned back to its normal livery in September 2010.

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Guest Post: The unique air cargo industry

The air cargo industry is quite obviously different from the passenger airline industry. Beyond both offering services that mostly focus on transportation via air the two industries share little else. Let's get into it.

For passenger airlines, the exchange of services (and in some cases, goods) is pretty much entirely contained within the airport or the aircraft. Passenger airlines offer an airport to airport service where travel and accommodation beyond these gateways is ultimately up to the passenger.

The cargo industry offers a very different service. When I worked for a major international cargo service (full disclosure: DHL is the company I previously worked for so my goal is to approach this from an academic and unbiased narrative), we offered what we called "door-to-door" service. That is, a company employee would pick up a package from a customer's home or warehouse and the package(s) would be delivered to the home or final destination of wherever the customer required. Customers were not required to drive to the airport and check their cargo in with the airline and then have another person at the closest airport that the airline served to the package's final destination waiting to pick it up.

Cargo carriers also deal with the logistics of offering a "door-to-door" service. That means massive fleets of everything from vans and trucks to aircraft, bicycles, motorcycles, cargo ships, trains, and I've even seen branded segways. It is easily surmised from this point that there is a lot more overhead and operational costs to be able to maintain these kinds of service. To be able to control these extra costs there are some operational differences that vary from the passenger transport business.

First is the aircraft. Cargo aircraft operate entirely different schedules and have an entirely different set of costs than passenger aircraft. The biggest advantage is the regulations that mandate the amount of maintenance required on the aircraft on a regular basis. Now don't think that these cargo aircraft are deathtraps - they just aren't. They are immaculate aircraft. They just don't require some of the more in-depth inspections that passenger aircraft are required to go through. This provides a benefit to the cargo airlines in the form of reduced operating costs.

This also allows many cargo carriers the ability to operate much older aircraft. This is another huge economic benefit. Buying a used MD-11 with tens of thousands of hours on the airframe is worlds cheaper than a brand new 747-400F(reighter). This directly puts the cargo carriers at another economic advantage. With lower costs for the acquisition of these assets cargo carriers can afford, in many cases, to purchase these aircraft outright instead of leasing them. This is just like purchasing a car and paying in full with cash - it just means no monthly payments, no interest payments, no outstanding liabilities in the ledger, and in a pinch assets that they can potentially liquidate to free up some cash. All of these aspects of the industry are utilized, particularly by the American based cargo carriers.

Cargo carriers almost exclusively operate at night. This provides a multitude of benefits as well. First of all these night operations are essential for their time-sensitive deliveries. The deadline to ship a package is usually in the late afternoon so that people can still drop off packages one their way home from work and still be delivered to the other side of the country before noon the next day. This means mostly having night time operations to move the cargo.

Some cargo airlines deviate from this route though. One way this is done is by contracting out the air portion of cargo movement. Mostly that is done by paying a passenger airline or other carrier to carry cargo for them. You may be surprised to learn that some of the largest cargo carriers (measured by total tonnes carried) are passenger airlines. Delta and Southwest are constantly in the top 10 largest cargo carriers in the world, and it makes sense. Delta operates over 4,000 flights a day and there is cargo on just about every flight where UPS operations only about 1,000. Granted those 1,000 UPS flight are pure cargo and the 4,000 Delta are mostly passengers, they are still comparable.

Another way this is done is by purchasing space on a contract cargo carrier. FedEx does this with one company called Mountain Air Cargo. All of Mountain's aircraft are painted in FedEx logos and fly routes specified by FedEx but have their own non-FedEx call-signs and flight numbers. This is a great way for FedEx to be able to server smaller markets without having to purchase, maintain, and staff the smaller aircraft. This also allows for some cities to receive important and sensitive air cargo that can not be delivered by the large MD-11's or 747's. It is obvious that in some cases passenger and cargo operations are one in the same. The two may travel in different cabins of service but still are essential to quick and on-time delivery.

In some aspects cargo and passenger air carriers are very alike. When it comes to pure cargo carriers though, the air cargo industry leverages important economic benefits to create a very resilient and sustainable industry.

--
Jesse Ziglar works as an analyst for a major carrier in the southern United States. More of his writing can be found at his blog Air Transparency. He can also be found on Twitter: @airtransparency

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Guest Post: Top 10 US airline stories of 2011

There was plenty of airline action in the US this year, so when I was asked to come up with the ten biggest stories of 2011, I quickly realized that was a tough task. After much thought, here is my list of the ten biggest stories to hit the US airline industry in the last year in chronological order.

Southwest Overhauls Rapid Rewards

It had been rumored for years, but at the beginning of 2011, Southwest finally rolled out its new Rapid Rewards frequent flier program. The new program is dollar-based, so it swept aside the standard Southwest had used since inception of the program. Many fliers were angry at the change, but the bigger issue involved all the technical glitches after launch.

American Takes On the GDSs

This fight has really been going on for years, but it heated up early in 2011 with lawsuits flying back and forth between American and the Global Distribution Systems (GDSs). Airlines have been unsuccessful so far at truly altering the relationship with the GDSs, but it’s not for lack of trying. This fight will continue for years to come.

Premium Economy Grows in Importance

United had its Economy Plus offering on the airplane for years but nobody responded. That all changed in 2011. First, Delta announced it would put Economy Comfort on its international fleet. It later followed that up with an announcement that the domestic fleet will get it as well. Meanwhile, the new United confirmed that it will keep Economy Plus on its airplanes. Even American got into the act by vaguely mentioning that there will be a premium economy product on its newest international aircraft, the 777-300ER.

Delta Tracks Bags Like FedEx

Airlines had begun boosting their bag tracking capabilities awhile ago, but Delta finally became the first airline to give travelers what they wanted – FedEx-style bag tracking throughout the travel process. The airline even came up with a nifty little iPhone app that lets you scan your tags and automatically follow them along the way.

The Rise of Streaming Video

In the inflight entertainment world, wifi-based entertainment systems finally took center stage. American announced it would start streaming video on some flights while others jumped on the bandwagon as well. This is only going to grow in popularity.

Delta and US Airways Finally Swap Slots

It seemed to take forever to find the right mix, but Delta and US Airways did eventually propose a deal that the Department of Transportation liked. Delta took most of the US Airways slots at New York/ La Guardia airport while US Airways took most of Delta’s at Washington/National. It’s not completely finished yet, but we’re in the home stretch. The landscape of commercial aviation in both cities is dramatically changed for the better.

Spirit Gets Aggressively Domestically

Little Spirit Airlines has thrived with its ultra low cost carrier model in Florida and the Caribbean, but it made a big push this year to bring it to the domestic market with new flying in Vegas, Chicago, Dallas/Ft Worth, and Phoenix/Mesa. This trend has thrived in Southeast Asia and Europe, but it hasn’t quite caught on in the same way in the US . . . until now.

Delta Cuts Small Cities

Delta decided that the time had come to cut a slew of small cities from its network if it couldn’t get more government subsidies. That’s just one little move in a growing trend. As economics change, small cities feel the brunt of the pain. They’re going to keep losing service at alarming rates.
The Illegal US Airways Pilot Slowdown

It’s no secret that US Airways pilots haven’t been happy with their contracts, but they’ve done very little themselves to fix that problem. Instead, they’ve done counter-productive things, like putting together an illegal slowdown. The courts got involved and told them to back off. They have for now.

American Files for Bankruptcy Protection

The final story is a big one. American, the airline that long touted its pride in being the last of the giants to have not filed for bankruptcy, finally lost that battle. It filed for bankruptcy protection and the process of cutting costs began. We don’t know what American will look like in a year, but it’s going to look different than it does today.

---
Brett Snyder is the author of the award-winning Cranky Flier blog. He is also the President and Chief Airline Dork of Cranky Concierge air travel assistance.

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VIDEOS: The application of the "Panda Express" decal to a FedEx 777F

US cargo airline FedEx announced that it painted one of its aircraft with a special panda decal to commemorate the carrier's transport of two giant pandas from the Washington D.C. zoo to a natural reserve in China. The one-time transport flight was conducted in February of 2010 on one of FedEx's 777Fs.

The following video from the official FedEx YouTube Channel shows FedEx painting this decal onto the Boeing 777 freighter.

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Boeing 777F freighter achieves two years in service

Two years ago in February 2009, Air France Cargo took delivery of the first Boeing 777F freighter aircraft. Watch delivery video here.

Powered by General Electric's GE90-110B1L engines which meet QC2 noise standards, the Boeing 777F freighter is based on the 777-200LR platform. It can carry more than 100 metric tons of payload and fly 4,900 nautical miles (9,070 kilometres).

Ever so quietly the aircraft is earning a reputation as the work horse of the industry, hauling diverse cargo from giant panda bears to high-performance race cars.

Boeing has delivered 39 of the 83 B777F's on order to nine operator airlines, two additional operators await delivery. The the fleet has flown approximately 120,000 hours with an average daily utilization rate of 11.34 hours. The airframe has an envious fleet schedule reliability of 99.37 percent, which means the freighter has a near-perfect record of on-time take-off and landings, an extremely critical factor in today's just-in-time" supply chain mantra.

FedEx Express with 12 aircraft is the largest 777 freighter operator with an additional 13 777 freighters in backlog.

Emirates SkyCargo, the freight division of Emirates airline, operates two 777 freighters. One of the two, A6-EFE was spotted in Bangalore once.

Boeing has produced a video on the 777 freighter which can be viewed here.

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Plane spotting pictures: FedEx Express Boeing MD-11 freighter N524FE with Kollsman EFVS

Continuing with the trend of air cargo, this week's picture is of the MD-11F freighter N524FE of global shipping giant FedEx Express.

Click on the image for a larger view

The MD-11 was the update to the venerable McDonnell Douglas DC-10. After a long career with many an airline, the last MD-11 passenger flight was performed on February 20, 2010 from New Delhi to Helsinki as AY022 by Finnair. Now MD-11's form a large portion of the world's cargo fleet.

This MD-11F flies in from Paris via Dubai, spends the night at Bangalore and flies back to Paris via Mumbai in the morning. It is tied down with almost 30 metric tonnes of weight on the nose gear, may be to counter-balance the third engine located on the tail of the aircraft. Also observe the infra-red enhanced flight vision system (EFVS) embedded in the nose cone made by Kollsman, Inc.

Another view of the unique dual tip on the MD-11 wing.

Related articles

• UPDATE 1-FedEx to buy India's AFL Pvt Ltd and its affiliate (reuters.com)
• FedEX Express to buy India's Unifreight (marketwatch.com)

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Bangalore bound FedEx Express Boeing MD-11F declares emergency diverts to Mumbai

A FedEx Express Boeing MD-11F registration N579FE performing flight FX-5062 from Dubai, United Arab Emirates to Bangalore, India, declared a full emergency after receiving a fire indication in the lower belly cargo hold, and diverted to Mumbai, CSI airport.

The aircraft landed safely at 18:24 local (12:54 UTC) and after inspection the alarm was found to be false. The full emergency conditions at Mumbai airport were withdrawn at 18:56 (13:26 UTC).

The aircraft is still at Mumbai airport at the time of this report.

The airline released a statement to Bangalore Aviation

The FedEx flight Fx 5062 made an emergency landing into Mumbai (BOM) at 18.34 p.m. on October 22, 2010 due to a fire indication in the lower belly compartment of the aircraft. Normal safety procedures were followed and the flight landed safely at Mumbai (BOM) airport; the aircraft and the crew are safe.

On detailed inspection of the aircraft, no fire was detected. Currently, further investigation is underway.

No disruption occurred at Mumbai (BOM) airport.

False alarms are not an unusual occurrence in air cargo operations and prudence is a must. Last year a Singapore Airlines freighter to Amsterdam, had its fire suppression system activated due to emanations from mangoes.

Just last month, a UPS Boeing 747-400 freighter crashed at Dubai killing Capt. Doug Lampe and First Officer Matthew Bell. The preliminary report of the UAE General Civil Aviation Authority indicates the pilots reporting smoke in the cockpit prior to that tragic crash.

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Slew of international carriers to commence flights from Bangalore

The next few months will see a spate of foreign carriers commencing operations from Bangalore.

As already reported, Qatar Airways with its "best economy class in the world" will commence operations on February 23 using an Airbus A320 for the first five months. Subsequently, depending on the success of the Emirate's negotiations on increase in the bi-laterals, the airline will move to a wide body. Qatar Airway's timings of around 04:00 in the morning, will compete head-on with fellow Emirati carrier Emirates.

There obviously is a close co-operation between Qatar and Gulf Air. The latter withdrew its recently re-introduced services on January 7, after only 2 months of operations.

Air China will commence a twice a week service between Bangalore and Chengdu using a Boeing 757 very soon.

Malaysian low cost carrier Air Asia will commence services between Bangalore and Kuala Lumpur using an Airbus A320, tentatively on May 4th. Air Asia was originally scheduled to commence in March, but has postponed their commencement twice.

FedEx will commence cargo services using their MD-11F freighter soon. It is ironic that DHL which has a major cargo terminal and integration centre at Bangalore airport does not fly their freighters to Bangalore.

Sources indicate that Abu Dhabi based Etihad Airways has just obtained permission from the Ministry of Civil Aviation to commence passenger services to Bangalore. The airline already operates its 'Crystal Cargo' Airbus A300 freighters to Bangalore. Since there is no increase in the bi-lateral capacity, just like Qatar, Etihad will trim its capacities to existing stations which will be transferred to commence service from Bangalore. Etihad is known for the aggressiveness, and we can expect a quick translation of the permission into flights.

Unfortunately for us spotters all these flights will operate in the night.

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Boeing delivers Qantas' 75th 737 and FedEx's 1st 777 Freighter, both with meaningful names

Yesterday, Boeing and Qantas celebrated the arrival of the 75th Boeing 737 in the Australian carrier's fleet. Qantas which has been flying Boeing 737s since 1986 specified special 2.5 meter high blended winglets, which further reduce fuel burn, thereby increasing range and payload.

Since this aircraft will be deployed on the trans-Tasman Australia New Zealand route, Qantas aptly named the aircraft Jean Batten to honour the spirited New Zealand aviator who broke numerous flying records in the 1930s.

Today, Boeing delivered to FedEx Express, the world's largest cargo carrier, its first 777 Freighter. This is Boeing's ninth 777F delivery but the first to a U.S. based global freight carrier.

FedEx Express has a very touching practice of naming its aircraft after the children of its employees. The new 777F is named Saad, honouring the son of FedEx's New Jersey based input auditor Kashif Zia. Incidentally, the very first Federal Express plane to take to the skies – a Dassault Falcon 20 – was named Wendy, honouring the daughter of company founder Fred Smith.

In the FedEx Express operation, the 777 Freighter can fly 5,800 nautical miles (6,675 statute miles, 10,740 km), an increase of 2,100 nautical miles (2,410 statute miles, 3,890 km) versus the airline's MD-11 Freighter fleet. The FedEx 777 Freighter has a revenue payload capacity of 215,000 pounds (97.5 metric tons), a 37,000-pound (16.7 metric tons) increase over the MD-11 Freighter.

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FedEx fails to deliver -- We're no worse than the other guy

With great anticipation I was waiting for my birthday gift to come to India. A Nikkor AFS VR 70-200mm f/2.8G ED-IF lens. Considered one of the finest lenses made by Nikon. Thanks to FedEx, I will not have it.

My brother in law was leaving the US for India on Tuesday afternoon, and having saved up some money, I somehow found a piece at an online store based in Spokane, WA, Onecall.

While taking the order, the sales representative mis-entered the destination ZIP code as 10016 instead of 10017. This one dgit was the start of my woes. My mistake tha I did not observe it in the order acknowledgement.

The shipment was by FedEx priority overnight service which was to be guaranteed delivery by 10:30am.

Come 10:30am there was no sign of the shipment. At 12:33pm EDT, two hours after the deadline, I get an automated "delivery exception" indicating the address was wrong.

Tracking number: 924232035865
Reason Delivery Not Completed
1. Incorrect address - Street name/number;
Recommended Action
Contact us to provide correct delivery address and/or additional delivery information.;

Please do not respond to this message. This email was sent from an unattended
mailbox. This report was generated at approximately 11:33 AM CDT
on 06/30/2009.

Of course, the "contact us" hyper-link only connects to the generic FedEx "contact us" page.

On researching and finally speaking to a FedEx customer service representative, I was told there was an error in the ZIP code. I pointed out, only the last digit was different, and the destination phone number was on the label, and was informed that normally FedEx looks at "wrongly addressed" packages only after 24 hours, even in the case of Priority Overnight shipments.

I was further told that FedEx did me a favour by tracing the error and bringing the package to their station on W. 42nd Street (the delivery address was on E. 44th Street) on the same day. The earliest they could assure delivery was "before 8pm" by which time my brother in law would be over the Atlantic ocean.

Remembering my association with FedEx for the past 25 years, I could not believe that FedEx has degraded to such a level.

What happened to all the fancy automated address checking system that FedEx has built in to their software and their FedEx Address Checker website. Since the Onecall store used an automated FedEx shipping system (the FedEx customer service manager Ms. Stormy Ayler told me), would the system not have alerted the store when preparing the shipment? or at least the package pick-up driver while collecting and scanning the package? or the receiving station? or all the many stations, locations, and systems that my package would have gone through?

Considering it is a Priority Overnight shipment (one of the most expensive services FedEx offers), one would safely assume FedEx will also have priority resolution systems in place in line with the high prices charged. If they had informed either my brother in law or me just one hour earlier, he could have gone to the station and collected it.

Worst case if someone looked at the package, it had the destination phone number and a phone call would have resolved the problem immediately.

Doing me a favour? Sorry FedEx, a vendor never does a customer a favour. It is the other way around. Study the Japanese phrase "O Kyaku sama wah Kami sama desh" simply translated in English -- Customer is equal to God.

With the FedEx approach I experienced, may be they should change their motto -- We're no worse than the other guy.

....and the store, Onecall. They tried to convince FedEx and failed. They recalled the shipment, but will not refund my money till the package reaches them; effectively holding me financially responsible for a package which never reached me. Not a good way to build trust.

Mistakes happen, no doubt about it -- it is how well, seamlessly, and quickly the correction is done that separates the good organisations from the great.

In our modern hectic world, we seem to have forgotten the simple old-school rules of doing business one of which says, 69% of customers leave because of an attitude of indifference exhibited by someone in the organisation; the second which says no written agreement can beat a look in the eye, the spoken word, and a firm handshake; and the third which says it costs 10 times as much to gain a new customer than to retain one.

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Tokyo Narita's main runway opens following FedEx MD-11F crash

The New Tokyo International Airport at Narita opened its main runway earlier this morning at 09:10 local (00:10 UTC) following yesterday's accident and crash of a FedEx Boeing MD-11 freighter which claimed both the crew and the aircraft.

The crash has shut down the 4,000 meter (13,123 ft) long main runway 16R/34L. The airport was forced to rely on the secondary Runway 16L/34R which, at 2,180 meters (7,152 ft) is just about half the the length of the main runway.

A spokesman for the airport said the first arrival was a Lufthansa intercontinental passenger flight from Frankurt at 09:24 (00:24 UTC)

The spokesman confirmed that the wreckage of the MD-11F was removed in the wee hours of this morning. He added that 101 flights were cancelled and about 50 were diverted to other Japanese airports since the crash.

Use these links for real-time information from Narita airport on international flight arrivals and international flight departures. Here is a list of all the airlines operating at Narita airport.

In the meantime FedEx released the names of the two crew who perished in the accident.

Captain Kevin Kyle Mosley, 54, of Hillsboro, Oregon, USA, joined FedEx Express on May 1, 1996. He has 12,800 flying hours experience.

First Officer Anthony Stephen Pino, 49, of San Antonio, Texas, USA, joined FedEx Express on July 10, 2006. He has 6,300 flying hours experience.

Our prayers with the bereaved families and prayers for the departed.

Blue Skies and Tail winds!!!!

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Video: FedEx MD-11 crashes at Tokyo Narita airport, crew killed, airport shut down

Follow Bangalore Aviation on Twitter

First posted - March 23, 01:00 GMT

A FedEx MD-11 freighter registration number N526FE performing flight 80, from Guangzhou, China crashed at Tokyo Narita International Airport in heavy winds, and burst in to flames. The two crew on board were killed. The main runway at the international gateway airport to Tokyo has been shut down.

Image courtesy Wikipedia

Most airlines have been forced to divert incoming flights to Tokyo Haneda, Osaka, Nagoya and other airports, as the longest runway of two at Narita has been closed.

The FedEx plane landed hard, tipped onto its left wing and burst into a bright orange fireball of flames, the video of the crash from Tokyo Broadcasting System shows. I have upload the video since the TBS website does not allow resizing of the small video window. The copyright remains that of TBS.

The three engined MD-11F an improvement of the old DC10 made by McDonnell Douglas, now a part of Boeing, is the mainstay of FedEx's freighter fleet who has 58 aircraft in its fleet.


This crash is reminiscent of the July 31, 1997 crash of another FedEx MD-11F at Newark. The US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) faulted the pilots for the crash of FedEx Flight 14, from Anchorage, Alaska to Newark.

Airport officials are unclear how long the main runway would be closed at Narita. International Japanese carriers Japan Airlines (JAL) and All Nippon Airways (ANA) have cancelled 29 and 10 flights respectively.

Having flown frequently to Narita I can attest to the tough time pilots have in the frequently occurring crosswinds. Both runways are aligned in a roughly North South direction (156/336 degree headings on the compass), and the airport often has strong crosswinds in an easterly and westerly direction. Paucity of land prevents the authorities from building a crossing runway at the airport.

METARS (21:48 UTC):
2009/03/22 21:00 RJAA 222100Z 30013G28KT 260V330 9999 FEW020 13/M01 Q0998 NOSIG RMK 1CU020 A2948
2009/03/22 21:00 RJAA 222100Z 30013G28KT 260V330 9999 FEW020 13/M01 Q0998 NOSIG
2009/03/22 21:08 RJAA 222108Z 31025G35KT 9999 FEW020 12/M01 Q0998 RMK 1CU020 A2949
2009/03/22 21:30 RJAA 222130Z 32026G40KT 9999 FEW020 12/M02 Q0999 WS R34L NOSIG
2009/03/22 21:30 RJAA 222130Z 32026G40KT 9999 FEW020 12/M02 Q0999 WS R34L NOSIG RMK 1CU020 A2952 P/RR
2009/03/22 21:30 RJAA 222130Z 32026G40KT 9999 FEW020 12/M02 Q0999 WS R34L NOSIG

Japan's meteorological agency had issued an advisory of gales for the area around the airport.

Update 1 - 04:30 GMT

FedEx has put out a statement

A FedEx Express MD-11 was involved in an incident today en route from Guangzhou to Narita, with two crew members on board. The incident occurred upon landing. We are sad to report that there were no survivors.

Our deepest sympathies go out to the family and friends of these crew members. This loss pains all of us at FedEx. Right now our focus is on doing everything we can to assist those involved at this difficult time.

We are thankful for the quick response of emergency teams on the ground and will continue to work closely with the applicable authorities as we seek to determine the cause for this tragic incident.

Update 2 - 06:00 GMT

Widespread flight disruptions are being reported at Narita airport. Read the full article.

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Widespread flight disruptions at Tokyo Narita airport following FedEx MD-11 crash

The crash of FedEx MD-11 freighter registration number N526FE performing flight 80, from Guangzhou, China at the New Tokyo International Airport at Narita has caused major disruptions in flight schedules.

The crash has shut down the 4,000 meter (13,123 ft) long main runway 16R/34L.

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The airport is forced to rely on the secondary Runway 16L/34R which, at 2,180 meters (7,152 ft) is just about half the the length of the main runway.

Narita is the main gateway to Japan's capital Tokyo, and home to all of Tokyo's intercontinental flights, many of which are operated by the Boeing 747 Jumbo Jet. Unfortunately Boeing B747 and Airbus A380 operations are not permitted on the secondary runway. Even wide bodies like the Boeing 777, 767, MD-11, Airbus A340 and A330, will not be able to carry a full complement of passengers, baggage and fuel.


Air travel to and from Tokyo is going to be hard today.

Please use these links for real-time information from Narita airport on international flight arrivals and international flight departures.

Do contact your airline and determine what is their situation, what arrangements are being made or alternatives they suggest. Here is a list of all the airlines operating at Narita airport.

See two videos of the crash.

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"Keeping America Competitive: the View from ‘Commerce Street’" - Fred Smith, FedEx Corporation

I have always admired Fred Smith of FedEx.

Yesterday, he addressed a town hall meeting in Los Angeles, on the economy's impact on industry, and offered three very sensible suggestions for governments to consider.

I an excerpting from the speech “Keeping America Competitive: the View from ‘Commerce Street’" by Frederick W. Smith, Chairman, President and CEO, FedEx Corporation.

The fact is that in this economic downturn, most people, especially politicians and the press, talk about Wall Street and Main Street, but few talk about what I call “Commerce Street,” the industrial economy in between…and the one with just as many victims as the other two sectors.

Let me shine a spotlight on how important such industries are to our American economy.

The industrial sector includes businesses that are usually rich in assets—big service companies, health care providers, warehousers, manufacturers, agriculture, mining and energy producers. This sector is a major driver of our economy. Industry may not be as sexy as finance, housing or retail, but it’s a critical component of GDP. Industrial job creation and loss parallel exactly the rise and fall of corporate spending in the U.S.

Even so, as more industrial businesses have slowed down or closed, the United States has begun to lose its edge in the global marketplace. How can we fund technological innovation if companies are strapped for cash? How can we fund alternative fuel research if chemists have lost their jobs?

So today I’d like to try to answer the question, “How can we make American companies more competitive in the global marketplace and increase their ability to offer American workers good jobs?

My answer? Three things:

• Accelerate the expensing of capital investment,
• Reduce our dependence on imported petroleum, and
• Champion free trade.

In summary, I believe that we can face down today’s challenges with that famous American ingenuity, determination and optimism that have kept us a world leader for so long.

The three topics I’ve discussed today require little in the way of direct government money. By stimulating the industrial sector to invest more in equipment and software; by reducing our dependence on imported oil; and by helping world markets remain open, we can begin to move the U.S. economy in the right direction. The only thing we really need is the political will to make these things happen. If we do, then we can transform “Commerce Street” into a more powerful force in California’s economy, and we can help straighten the crown America has worn for so long as the world’s economic leader.

I strongly recommend your reading the complete presentation, it will be time well worth spent.

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FedEx cargo ATR42 crashes in Lubbock Texas USA

AP is reporting a FedEx cargo plane crashed during landing Tuesday at Lubbock Preston Smith International Airport (KLBB), in my home state of Texas, USA.

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Airport director James Loomis says both crew members were taken to a hospital, but FedEx spokeswoman Sandra Munoz says both were able to walk from the crash. A supervisor at University Medical Center in Lubbock said the two crew members were being evaluated.

The ATR42-300F turboprop aircraft, registration N902FX, operating flight EM8284, was arriving from Fort Worth Alliance Airport (KAFW) in a freezing mist, touched down before runway 17R while landing in Lubbock with a visibility of about 2 miles at 04:36 local (10:36Z). Airport officials say the gear collapsed, the airplane veered to the right, the right wing impacted ground and the airplane caught fire, which was quickly extinguished by emergency services. Munoz says the plane had skidded off the runway.

The plane was operated by Idaho-based Empire Airways under contract with Memphis, Tennessee based FedEx Corp.

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