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FedEx Express

FedEx Express is a cargo airline based in Memphis, Tennessee, USA. It is the world's largest airline in terms of aircraft, operating 672 planes and in terms of freight tons flown. It is a subsidiary of FedEx Corporation and delivers packages and freight to more than 220 countries each day.

Its headquarters are in Memphis with its global "SuperHub" located at Memphis International Airport; with regional hubs at Indianapolis, Fort Worth, Oakland, Newark, Anchorage, Paris, Subic Bay, Toronto, and Miami. FedEx Express has hubs under construction at Greensboro, NC and Guangzhou, China.

History

Previous Events:

1971: Founded as Federal Express by Fred Smith in Little Rock, Arkansas.
1973: Moved to Memphis, Tennessee and Memphis International Airport after lack of support from Little Rock National Airport.
April 17, 1973: Starts operations with 14 Dassault Falcon 20s connecting 25 U.S. cities.
1975: Installs first drop box allowing customers to drop off packages.
1977: Cargo airline deregulation is enacted and purchases first large aircraft: seven Boeing 727s.
1979: Launches COSMOS (Customers, Operations and Services Master Online System), a centralized computer system to manage people, packages, vehicles and weather scenarios in real time. Federal Express was the first shipping company to use a computer to manage packages.
1980: Implements DADS (Digitally Assisted Dispatch System) to coordinate on-call pickups for customers. This system allows customers to schedule pickups for the same day.
1981: Introduces the Overnight Letter.
1981: Begins international delivery with service to Canada.
1981: Officially opens SuperHub at Memphis International Airport.
1986: Introduces the SuperTracker, a hand-held bar code scanner. This system introduced tracking to the shipping industry.
1986: Opens hub at Newark Liberty International Airport.
1988: Opens hubs at Indianapolis International Airport and Oakland International Airport.
1989: Acquires Flying Tigers to expand international service.
1990: Opens hub at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport.
1993: Clear Electronic Customs Clearance System is created to expedite regulatory clearance while cargo is en route.
1994: Officially adopts the "FedEx" name, until then the abbreviation was unoffical.
1994: Launches Fedex.com as the first transportation Web site to offer online package tracking, allowing customers to conduct business via the Internet.
1995: Acquires air routes from Evergreen International to start service to China and opens the Asia and Pacific hub in Subic Bay
1997: Opens hub at Fort Worth Alliance Airport.
1999: Opens hub at Charles de Gaulle International Airport
2000: Signs a 7-year contract to transport Express Mail and Priority Mail with the United States Postal Service. The contract also allows FedEx to place drop boxes at every USPS post office. The USPS contract has recently been extended until September 2013 and USPS continues to be the largest customer of FedEx Express.
2003: Becomes the first shipping company to use a hybrid-electric truck.
2005: Launches around the world flights, Eastbound and Westbound, to provide faster and better connectivity around the world.
2007: FedEx Express acquired ANC, a UK courier company. The acquisition adds 35 airport sort facilities to the FedEx network and FedEx introduced Newark, Memphis, and Indianapolis routes directly to UK airports instead of stopping at FedEx's Hub at Charles De Gaulle Airport.
2007: Acquires Flying-Cargo Hungary Kft to expand service in eastern Europe.

Upcoming Events:

2008: Plans to open the newly expanded sort facility at the Indianapolis International Airport. When completed the facility will be over 2.5 million square feet.
2008: Plans to open the new Asian-Pacific hub at Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport in southern China. The new hub will allow FedEx to increase service in China.
2009: Plans to open the Mid-Atlantic U.S. hub at Piedmont Triad International Airport in Greensboro, North Carolina. FedEx has been fighting complaints since it first chose the airport in 1998 about the possible noise generated by its planes because most FedEx flights are scheduled at night. Despite the complaints, FedEx has continued with construction on its hub and the airport has continued with infrastructure upgrades to handle the additional flights.

Fleet

FedEx Express operates the world's largest civil air fleet with 672 aircraft:

FedEx Express fleet
Aircraft	Total	Notes
Airbus A300-600	68
Airbus A310-200/300	66
Boeing 727-200	85	Exiting from service 2008-2016 Replacement aircraft: Boeing 757-200 Fitted with hush kits
Boeing 757-200	16 (74 used orders)	Entry into service: 2008-2016 Replacing Boeing 727-200
Boeing 777 Freighter	(15 orders) (15 options)	Entry into service: 2009-2011 Replacing McDonnell Douglas DC-10-10 and DC-10-30
McDonnell Douglas DC-10-10	4	Exiting from service: 2009-2011 Replacement aircraft: Boeing 777 Freighter
McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30	10	Exiting from service: 2009-2011 Replacement aircraft: Boeing 777 Freighter
McDonnell Douglas MD-10-10	58
McDonnell Douglas MD-10-30	10
McDonnell Douglas MD-11	58
ATR 42-300/320	27	Operated as FedEx Feeder
ATR 72-200	13	Operated as FedEx Feeder
Cessna Caravan 208B	242	Operated as FedEx Feeder
Cessna Caravan 208A	10	Operated as FedEx Feeder
Fokker F-27	4	Operated as FedEx Feeder Exiting from service

FedEx Express is the largest operator of the Airbus A300, Airbus A310, ATR 42, Boeing 727, Cessna 208, McDonnell Douglas DC-10, and the McDonnell Douglas MD-11.

FedEx Express had ordered ten Airbus A380 freighters, with options on ten more. FedEx was to be the launch airline for the Airbus A380-800F and planned to introduce the first aircraft to service in August 2008 for use on routes between hubs in the United States and Asia. The aircraft ordered were to be delivered between 2008 and 2011 With A380 delays of more than two years, FedEx canceled these orders and replaced them with an order from Boeing for fifteen 777 Freighters with an option for fifteen more, to be delivered in 2009 through 2011. FedEx said that Airbus will allow them to move their nonrefundable deposits to purchases of future aircraft. FedEx has stated they may consider the A380F when Airbus is less constrained by construction developments.

In 2007, FedEx revealed plans to acquire 90 Boeing 757-200 aircraft at a cost of US$2.6 billion to replace the aging Boeing 727 fleet. The 757's debut for revenue service was on May 28, 2008.

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.

In September 1984, FedEx took delivery of the last Boeing 727 built.

On July 12, 2007 FedEx took delivery of the last A300/A310 built.

FedEx Express is the largest member of the United States Civil Reserve Air Fleet in terms of aircraft pledged.

To be able to respond quickly to demand, FedEx Express tends keeps a number of empty planes in the air to respond quickly to changing freight demands.

FedEx Feeder

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

In most cases FedEx Express operates FedEx Feeder on a wet lease program where a contractor will lease the aircraft and supply the crew and insurance while FedEx will supply the aircraft, registration, landing fees, and ground crews. Some flights may operate with a FedEx Express flight number (FX) but most flights use the flight number of the contractor.

List of contract carriers:

In the European Union

It was announced on 18th December 2006 that FedEx Express had bought the courier company ANC for £120 million. ANC operated as a separate entity, but accepting and delivering FedEx's shipments, until 17th September 2007 when it was renamed as FedEx UK. The acquisition brought about an extra 35 sort locations for FedEx in the United Kingdom.

FedEx operated cargo flights to Manchester Airport between September 2007 and August 2008 which operated from Memphis International Airport to Charles de Gaulle International Airport direct, returning via Manchester to Memphis.

The London Stansted Airport operations are comprised of direct flights to Newark, Memphis, and Indianapolis.

It has also been announced that FedEx will start operations from Newcastle Airport in the North to its European hub at Charles de Gaulle Airport. From Paris, the cargo can be flown to almost anywhere in the world. The Newcastle flights themselves will be operated by Farnair.

Fedex also operates cargo flights to Portela Airport.

Environmental initiatives

In 2003, FedEx Express bagan introducing hybrid electric/diesel trucks to its fleet, at the time FedEx had hoped to replace its entire 30,000 W700 delivery truck fleet with the hybrid. As of October 2008, FedEx only had 172 hybrid trucks on the road. FedEx blamed the low number on lack of investment from other major companies in hybrid technology. FedEx had hoped for other companies to order hybrid trucks and tax credits would be issued by the United States government to bring the cost of the trucks down.

FedEx claims that the truck decreases soot by 96 percent and emissions by 65 percent. FedEx also claims that the truck gets more than 50% better gas millage while still having the same cargo capacity as a conventional truck.

Currently, FedEx Express operates 93 hybrid trucks in the United States in New York, Tampa, Sacramento and Washington, D.C.. The rest of the trucks operate in operate in Tokyo, Toronto, and Turin.

Major incidents and accidents

April 7, 1994 - Flight 705, N306FE, a McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30 experienced an attempted hijacking by a soon to be terminated employee. Auburn Calloway, the hijacker planned to use the aircraft for a kamikaze attack on FedEx Corporation Headquarters in Memphis, Tennessee. The crew of Flight 705 were able to fight off Calloway and land the plane safely.
September 5, 1996 – N68055, a McDonnell Douglas DC-10-10 was written off after it was destroyed by fire at Stewart International Airport, Newburgh, NY. 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 70 feet high and 3,100 feet 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 written off 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 causing a small fire and severe structural damage to the aircraft.
May 8, 2008 - Two ATR-42s suffered substantial damage at Piedmont Triad International Airport when the airport was hit by an 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.

Northrop Grumman Guardian

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 that could be deployed on commercial airliners, to protect them from terrorist attacks such as the 2003 Baghdad DHL attempted shootdown incident. FedEx supplied an MD-11 and a leased 747 for the flight test phase. FedEx then 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, FedEx Express currently has nine aircraft equipped with the system for further testing and evaluation. Because of the program's huge success, the US Congress directed DHS to expand the program to passenger-carrying aircraft.