FedEx Express

Airline	FedEx Express
Logo	FedEx Express.svg
Logo size	240
Fleet size	697 (+49 orders)
Destinations	375+
Iata	FX
Icao	FDX
Callsign	FEDEX
Parent	FedEx Corporation
Company slogan	The World On Time
Founded	1971 (as Federal Express)
Commenced	April 17, 1973
Headquarters	Memphis, TN, USA
Key people	David J Bronczek, President and CEO of Express division
Website	www.fedex.com

FedEx Express is a cargo airline based in Memphis, Tennessee, United States. It is the world's largest airline in terms of freight tons flown and the world's second largest in terms of fleet size. It is a subsidiary of FedEx Corporation, delivering packages and freight to more than 375 destinations in nearly every country each day.

Its headquarters are in Memphis with its global "SuperHub" located at Memphis International Airport. In the United States, FedEx Express has national hubs at Indianapolis International Airport, Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport and Fort Worth Alliance Airport. Regional hubs are located at Oakland International Airport, Newark Liberty International Airport and Miami International Airport. International regional hubs are located at Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport, Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport, Toronto Pearson International Airport and Cologne Bonn Airport. The hub at Piedmont Triad International Airport is awaiting opening due to a downturn in package volume.

History

Early history

FedEx Express was founded in 1971 as the Federal Express Corporation. It was originally founded by Fred Smith in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1971. After a lack of support from the Little Rock National Airport, Smith moved the company to Memphis, Tennessee and the Memphis International Airport in 1973.

The company started overnight operations on April 17, 1973 with fourteen Dassault Falcon 20s that connected twenty-five cities in the United States.

Federal Express installed its first drop box in 1975 which allowed customers to drop off packages without going to a company local branch.

Federal Express' sales topped $1 billion for the first time in 1983.

In 1986, the company introduced the "SuperTracker", a hand-held bar code scanner which brought parcel tracking to the shipping industry for the first time.

FedEx era

In 1994, Federal Express adopted the "FedEx" name, formalizing the abbreviation that until then was unofficial. Also that year, FedEx launched Fedex.com as the first transportation web site to offer online package tracking, which allowed customers to conduct business via the internet. In 1995, the company acquired air routes from Evergreen International to start services to China, and opened an Asia and Pacific hub in Subic Bay International Airport in the Philippines. In 1997 FedEx opened its hub at Fort Worth Alliance Airport and in 1999 opened a European hub at Charles de Gaulle International Airport in France. In 2000, the company officially dropped the "Federal Express" name and became "FedEx Express" to distinguish its express shipping service from others offered by its parent company FedEx Corporation.

In December 2006, FedEx Express acquired the British courier company ANC Holdings Limited for £120 million. The acquisition added 35 sort facilities to the FedEx network and the company introduced Newark, Memphis, and Indianapolis routes directly to UK airports instead of stopping at FedEx's European hub at Charles de Gaulle Airport. In September 2007, ANC was rebranded as FedEx UK. FedEx Express also acquired Flying-Cargo Hungary Kft to expand service in Eastern Europe.

In December 2008, FedEx postponed delivery of the new Boeing 777 Freighter, four will be delivered in 2010 as previously agreed, but in 2011, FedEx will only take delivery of four, rather than the 10 originally planned. The remaining aircraft will be delivered in 2012 and 2013.

FedEx Express closed a hub for the first time in its history, when operations at its Asian-Pacific hub at Subic Bay International Airport in the Philippines ceased on February 6, 2009. The operations were transferred to Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport in southern China. FedEx Express had planned to open the new Chinese hub in December 2008 but in November 2008, the company delayed the opening until early 2009 citing the need to fully test the new hub.

On June 2, 2009, FedEx opened the new hub building at Piedmont Triad International Airport in Greensboro, North Carolina. FedEx announced in December 2008, that it still intended to open the building on time, despite the bad economy. The hub's operations would be scaled back from 1,500 employees to only 160, the size of the previous operations at the much smaller sorting facility. FedEx gave no time line as to when the hub will be operating at expected hub levels. The hub had been delayed many years since FedEx first picked the airport to be its Mid-Atlantic U.S. hub back in 1998. FedEx had to fight many complaints from nearby homeowners about the anticipated noise generated by its aircraft, because most of its flights take place at night. A third runway was built to accommodate the hub operation and the extra aircraft.

On October 27, 2010, FedEx opened its Central and Eastern European hub at Cologne Bonn Airport. The hub features a fully-automated sorting system that can process up to 18,000 packages per hour. The roof of the hub features FedEx's largest solar power installation, producing 800,000 kilowatt hours per year.

Fleet

The FedEx Express fleet consists of the following aircraft as of February 28, 2011

entered the FedEx fleet in 2008]] on approach to San José]]

FedEx Express operates the world's largest cargo airfleet with 697 aircraft, and is the largest operator of the Airbus A300, Airbus A310, ATR 42, Boeing 727, Cessna 208, McDonnell Douglas DC-10/MD-10, and the McDonnell Douglas MD-11. The company took delivery of the last Boeing 727 built in September 1984 and the last A300/A310 built in July 2007. To be able to respond to changing freight demand quickly, FedEx Express tends to keep a number of empty planes in the air.

In 2007, FedEx revealed plans to acquire 90 Boeing 757-200s. Because production ended in 2005, FedEx was left with no choice but to acquire secondhand aircraft from other airlines at a cost of US$2.6 billion to replace its aging Boeing 727 fleet. The 757's debut for revenue service was on May 28, 2008.

FedEx Express was to have been the launch airline for the Airbus A380 freighter, having ordered ten for delivery between 2008 and 2011 with options on ten more. The company had planned to introduce the first aircraft into service in August 2008 for use on routes between hubs in the United States and Asia. Faced with A380 delays of more than two years, FedEx canceled these orders and replaced them with an order for fifteen Boeing 777 freighters with an option for fifteen more, to be delivered from 2009 through 2011. FedEx has said that Airbus will allow it to transfer its nonrefundable deposits to purchases of future aircraft, and has stated it may consider the A380F when the A380 program is less affected by construction delays. In December 2008, FedEx postponed delivery of some of the 777s: four will be delivered in 2010 as previously agreed, but 2011 deliveries will be only four, rather than the 10 originally planned. Five more will arrive in 2012, and two in 2013. FedEx has also expressed interest in the A330F for the far future to fill the void between the 757F and the 777F once the A300's and MD-11's retire. This is made more possible by the fact that FedEx still has credit with Airbus from the A380 order cancellations.

With one of the world's largest airfleets, FedEx Express is the largest member of the United States Civil Reserve Air Fleet in terms of aircraft pledged.

The very first Dassault Falcon 20C delivered to FedEx (N8FE) is on display at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center of the National Air and Space Museum at the Smithsonian Institution.

FedEx Feeder

operated by Air Contractors]]

FedEx Feeder is the branding applied to all FedEx Express propeller-driven aircraft which feed packages to and from airports served by larger jet aircraft.

In the United States and Canada, FedEx Express operates FedEx Feeder on a damp lease program where the contractor will lease the aircraft from FedEx fleet and provide a crew to operate the aircraft solely for FedEx. All of the feeder aircraft operated in the United States and Canada are owned by FedEx and because of this all of the aircraft are in the FedEx Feeder livery. Just like regional airlines, the contractor will operate the aircraft with their own flight number and call sign.

Outside of the United States, the contractor will supply their own aircraft, which may or may not be in the FedEx Feeder livery. Depending on the arrangement with FedEx, the contractor may be able to carry cargo for other companies with the FedEx cargo.

List of contract carriers:

Air Contractors (Largest contractor, European Partner)

Baron Aviation Services

Corporate Air

CSA Air

Empire Airlines

Merlin Airways

Morningstar Air Express

Mountain Air Cargo

Solinair

West Air Inc.

Wiggins Airways

Environmental initiatives

Delivery fleet

In 2003, FedEx Express introduced hybrid electric/diesel trucks into its fleet. At the time the company had hoped to replace its entire 30,000 W700 delivery truck fleet with the hybrid, but in June 2009 only 170 were on the road. Ninety-three of these operate in the United States in New York, Tampa, Sacramento and Washington, D.C.; the rest operate in Tokyo, Toronto, and Turin.

FedEx claimed that the hybrid truck in the 2003 test decreases soot by 96 percent and emissions by 65 percent. It also claimed that the truck gets more than 50% better gas mileage while still having the same cargo capacity as a conventional truck.

In 2009, FedEx Express partnered with Iveco and started a new test program of hybrid electric/diesel vans. The test program will consist of 10 hybrid vans deployed in Milan and Turin, Italy. FedEx claims the new vans will have a 26.5% reduction in fuel consumption and a decrease in CO2 emissions of 7.5 tons when compared to FedEx's standard vehicle. The trial will continue until May 2010 and after the program's conclusion, FedEx will evaluate if the vans should be deployed on a larger scale.

In November 2009, FedEx Express purchased 51 gasoline-electric hybrid vehicles from Azure Dynamics. The new trucks will be put into service in The Bronx, New York City. The Bronx will be FedEx's first all hybrid station. The addition will bring FedEx Express’ fleet of hybrid electric and electric vehicles to 325.

Air fleet

FedEx Express has set a goal of getting 30 percent of its jet fuel from petroleum alternatives by 2030.

FedEx is currently in the process of phasing out Boeing 727s for its fleet in favor of newer Boeing 757s, the airline says the 757s are 47 percent more fuel-efficient. FedEx will soon switch from MD-11s to Boeing 777s for its long-range, international routes, freeing up the MD-11 fleet to fly shorter routes currently flown by the DC-10.

September 5, 1996 – N68055, a McDonnell Douglas DC-10-10 was written off after it was destroyed by fire at Stewart International Airport, Newburgh, New York. The aircraft made an emergency landing at the airport due to a smoke alarm, after landing the fire consumed the aircraft.

July 31, 1997 – Flight 14, N611FE, a McDonnell Douglas MD-11 was written off after it crashed during landing at Newark International Airport from Anchorage International Airport. The No. 3 engine contacted the runway during a rough landing which caused the aircraft to flip over and catch fire. October 17, 1999 – Flight 87, N581FE, a McDonnell Douglas MD-11 was written off after landing at Subic Bay International Airport from Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport. When landing, the aircraft continued down the whole length of the runway and plunged into the bay where it was completely submerged. July 26, 2002 – Flight 1478, N497FE, a Boeing 727-200 was written off after it crashed into the tree line on approach to Tallahassee Regional Airport from Memphis International Airport. The aircraft's landing gear hit a tree about high and short of the runway which caused the aircraft to crash into the trees. December 18, 2003 – Flight 647, N364FE, a McDonnell Douglas MD-10-10 was written off after it ran off the runway at Memphis International Airport from Metropolitan Oakland International Airport. The right main landing gear collapsed and caused the aircraft to veer off the runway. It was destroyed in the subsequent fire. July 28, 2006 – Flight 630, N391FE a McDonnell Douglas MD-10-10 was severely damaged after its left main landing gear collapsed at Memphis International Airport from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. After the landing gear failed, the engine contacted the runway and caused a small fire and structural damage to the aircraft. May 8, 2008 – N904FX and N905FX, two ATR-42-320s were written off after they suffered substantial damage at Piedmont Triad International Airport when the airport was hit by a F2 tornado. Both aircraft were parked when they were struck by the tornado, one aircraft was blown into a ditch and the other was blown into a fence. March 23, 2009 – Flight 80, N526FE, a McDonnell Douglas MD-11 crashed at Narita International Airport during landing in windy conditions. The aircraft touched down and bounced on its nose gear back into the air, coming down again on its nose gear before bouncing back up. The nose gear impacted one final time before the aircraft banked to the left and the wing clipped the ground. The aircraft burst into flames and came to rest upside down. Both the pilot and co-pilot died as a result of the crash, making it the first fatal accident in the airline's history.

Northrop Grumman Guardian

during a test flight of the Guardian, which can be seen mounted to the belly aft of the wings.]] In 2003 FedEx Express partnered with the Department of Homeland Security and Northrop Grumman to develop and flight test an anti-missile system, the Northrop Grumman Guardian. It is intended that this system could be deployed on commercial airliners to protect them from terrorist attacks such as the 2003 Baghdad DHL attempted shootdown incident. FedEx supplied a MD-11 and a leased 747 for the flight test phase.

FedEx Express became the first air carrier to deploy the Guardian on a commercial flight in September, 2006, when they equipped a MD-10 freighter with the pod. The company currently has nine aircraft equipped with the system for further testing and evaluation. Because of the program's success, the US Congress directed DHS to extend it to passenger-carrying aircraft.

See also

Air transportation in the United States

Aviation

DHL Aviation

FedEx Corporation

List of airlines of the United States

List of airports in the United States

List of companies of the United States

TNT Airways

Transportation in the United States

UPS Airlines

USPS

References

External links

FedEx

FedEx Express Facts

Category:Airlines of the United States Category:IATA members Category:Air Transport Association members Category:Regional Airline Association members Category:Cargo Airline Association Category:Companies based in Memphis, Tennessee Category:FedEx Category:Airlines established in 1971 Category:Cargo airlines