FedEx Express is an American cargo airline based in Memphis, Tennessee, United States. As of 2023, it was the world's largest cargo airline in terms of fleet size and freight tons flown. It is the namesake and leading subsidiary of FedEx Corporation, delivering freight and packages to more than 375 destinations over 220 countries and territories across six continents each day.
The company's global "Super Hub" is located at Memphis International Airport. In the United States, FedEx Express has a national hub at Indianapolis International Airport, and regional hubs at airports in Anchorage, Fort Worth, Greensboro, Miami, Newark, Oakland and Ontario. International regional hubs are located at airports in Cologne/Bonn, Dubai, Bengaluru, Delhi, Guangzhou, Istanbul, Liege, Milan, Mumbai, Osaka, Paris, Seoul, Shanghai, Singapore, Taipei, Tokyo, and Toronto.
History
Early history
thumb|left|A Federal Express [[Boeing 727|Boeing 727-100F, with several other 727s in the background. The Boeing 727s remained the backbone of the fleet until the mid-2000s.]]
The concept for what became Federal Express came to Fred Smith in the mid-1960s, while an undergraduate student For an economics class, he submitted a paper which argued that in modern technological society time meant money more than ever before and with the advent of miniaturized electronic circuitry, very small components had become extremely valuable. He argued that the consumer society was becoming increasingly hungry for mass-produced electronic items, but the decentralizing effect induced by these very devices gave manufacturers tremendous logistic problems in delivering the items. Smith felt that the necessary delivery speed could only be achieved by using air transport. But he believed that the U.S. air cargo system was so inflexible and bound by regulations at that time that it was completely incapable of making really fast deliveries. Despite the professor's opinion, Smith held on to the idea.
Smith founded Federal Express Corporation in 1971 with $4 million from his inheritance and $91 million in venture capital in Little Rock, Arkansas, where Smith was operating Little Rock Airmotive. After a lack of support from Little Rock National Airport, Smith moved the company to Memphis, Tennessee and Memphis International Airport in 1973.
thumb|First FedEx Express aircraft, a [[Dassault Falcon 20 named Wendy, on display at Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center]]
The company started overnight operations on April 17, 1973, with fourteen Dassault Falcon 20s that connected twenty-five cities in the United States. In the end, he raised somewhere between $50 and $70 million, from twenty of the US's leading risk venture speculators, including such companies as the First National City Bank of New York and the Bank of America in California. At the time, Federal Express was the most highly financed new company in U.S. history, in terms of venture capital.
thumb|First FedEx van on display at the world headquarters complex in Memphis, Tennessee
Federal Express' sales topped $1 billion for the first time in 1983.
In the 1970s, with the enormous growth, FedEx needed a method for quality control. They developed the tracking number for internal use to find that packages were moving properly. This info was eventually applied to all packages and be made available to the public to find the status of one's own package. 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. Ron Ponder, a vice president at the time, was in charge of this proposed venture.
In 1998, FedEx merged with Caliber System and reorganized as a holding company, FDX Corporation. In 2000, FDX changed its name to FedEx Corporation and standardized the names of its subsidiaries around the "FedEx" brand. The original "Federal Express" cargo airline changed its name to "FedEx Express" to distinguish its express shipping service from others offered by the FedEx parent company.
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 were delivered in 2010 as previously agreed, but in 2011, FedEx only took delivery of four, rather than the ten originally planned. The remaining aircraft were 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 would 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. FedEx began full hub operations at the Greensboro facility on September 2, 2018.
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.
On December 7, 2018, the company announced the retirement of David Cunningham on December 31, 2018. He was succeeded as CEO and president by Raj Subramaniam.
Expansion
On November 6, 2019, FedEx Express announced its return to the Philippines, an Asia–Pacific hub. The company says it does not want to relocate Asia–Pacific hub to the Philippines, but they are planning to expand operations in Clark, Pampanga. On October 6, 2020, FedEx celebrates its 36 Years of Operations with new Philippines gateway in Clark. The company built and opened a 17,000 sq.m. facility (costing US$30 million) at Clark in July 2021.
Fleet
Current fleet
, FedEx Express operates the following aircraft:
{| class="wikitable" style="margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto; text-align:center"
!Aircraft
!In<br />service
!Orders
!Notes
|-
|
|64
|—
|Includes the last Airbus A300 ever built, N692FE.<br />Older aircraft to be retired and replaced by Boeing 767-300F.<br />Largest operator.
|-
|Boeing 757-200SF
|87
|—
|Largest operator.
|-
|Boeing 767-300F
|152
|–
|Replacing older Airbus A300-600RF and MD-11F.<br />Largest operator.
|-
|Boeing 777F
|59
|8
|Deliveries through 2027.<br />Replacing MD-11F.<br />American launch customer and largest operator.
|-
|
|29
|—
| Grounded after UPS Airlines Flight 2976 crash; returned to service May 10, 2026.<br>Largest operator.<br />Retirement set for 2032, to be replaced by Boeing 767-300F and 777F.
|-
!Total
!391
!8
!
|-
!colspan=4|FedEx Feeder contracted fleet
|-
|ATR 42-300F
|15
|—
|
|-
|ATR 72-200F
|19
|—
|
|-
|ATR 72-600F
|24
|16
|Launch customer.<br />Deliveries began in 2020.
|-
|
|231
|—
|Largest operator.
|-
|Cessna 408 SkyCourier
|28
|22
|Launch customer.<br />Deliveries began in May 2022.
|-
!Total
!317
!38
!
|}
Note: "F" stands for freighter aircraft. "SF" stands for special freighter aircraft, which are converted from passenger aircraft.
FedEx Express operates the world's largest cargo air fleet with more than 650 aircraft, and is the largest operator of the Airbus A300, ATR 42, Cessna 208 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 (i.e. more cargo that can fit on an aircraft), or to prevent cargo from being stranded on aircraft grounded with mechanical problems, FedEx Express tends to keep a number of empty or underloaded aircraft (usually five) in the air during the overnight to "sweep" the US.
In 2007, FedEx revealed plans to acquire 90 Boeing 757-200SFs. Because production ended in 2005, FedEx was left with no choice but to acquire secondhand aircraft from other airlines to replace its aging Boeing 727 fleet, at a cost of US$2.6 billion. The 757's debut for revenue service was on May 28, 2008. The last Boeing 727 was retired on June 21, 2013, after 35 years of service with FedEx.
FedEx Express was scheduled to be 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 15 Boeing 777Fs with an option for 15 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 were to be delivered in 2010 as previously agreed, and four more in 2011, rather than the 10 originally planned. Delivery of the remaining aircraft was postponed to 2012 and 2013.
On December 15, 2011, FedEx announced an order for 27 Boeing 767-300Fs to replace its MD-10s. The 767s will be delivered between 2014 and 2018, with three aircraft being delivered in 2014, and with six aircraft delivered each year between 2015 and 2018. The airline also delayed deliveries of eleven Boeing 777Fs currently on order, but converted two options to firm orders.
On July 2, 2012, FedEx announced an order for an additional 15 Boeing 767-300Fs to replace its MD-10 and A310-200 aircraft. As part of this announcement, it converted four of its Boeing 777 freighter order to 767-300Fs, for a total of 19 new 767s. The first Boeing 767-300F was delivered to the airline on September 4, 2013.
With one of the world's largest aircraft fleets, FedEx Express is the largest contributor to the United States Civil Reserve Air Fleet in terms of aircraft pledged.
The first Dassault Falcon 20C delivered to FedEx (operated with the registration N8FE) is on display at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center of the National Air and Space Museum at the Smithsonian Institution.
On November 7, 2025, FedEx announced they had grounded their MD-11 fleet, days after UPS Airlines Flight 2976 was involved in a deadly crash in Kentucky.
Historical fleet
{| class="wikitable" style="margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto; text-align:center"
|-
! Aircraft
! Total
! Introduced
! Retired
! Replaced by
! Remarks
|-
| Airbus A310-200F
| 49
| 1994
| 2016
|
| Includes N450FE, first A310 prototype.
|-
| Airbus A310-300F
| 21
| 2000
| 2020
|
| Last commercial flight was January 4, 2020.
|-
| Boeing 727-100F
|rowspan=2|75
|rowspan=2|1977
|rowspan=2|2013<BR>Including N217FE, the last Boeing 727 ever Built.
|-
| Boeing 727-200F
|-
| Boeing 737-200C
| 5
| 1978
| 1981
| None
|
|-
| Boeing 747-100SF
|rowspan=2| 11
|rowspan=2| 1989
|rowspan=2| 1996
|rowspan=2|
|rowspan=2| Acquired from Flying Tiger Line merger.
|-
| Boeing 747-200F
|-
|
| 33
| 1973
| Boeing 727
|
|-
|
| 6
| 1989
| 1991
| None
| Acquired from Flying Tiger Line merger.
|-
|
| 25
|rowspan=4| 1980
| 2021
|
|
|-
|
| 6
| 2022
| <br />
|
|-
|
| 64
| 2021
|rowspan=2|
|
|}
<gallery mode="packed">
File:Airbus A310-222(F), FedEx - Federal Express AN0686625.jpg|N451FE, a Airbus A310-200F pictured in 2004
File:Boeing 727-227-Adv(F), FedEx - Federal Express AN1015874.jpg|N489FE, a Boeing 727-200F pictured in 2006
File:Federal Express Boeing 747-200F; N631FE, June 1991.jpg|N631FE, the only 747 ever painted in full Federal Express livery
File:FedEx MD-10-10; N360FE@LAX;18.04.2007 463hp (4271037976).jpg|N360FE, a McDonnell Douglas MD-10-30F pictured in 2007
</gallery>
FedEx Feeder
thumb|A freighter-configured [[ATR 42-300, operated by ASL Airlines Ireland]]
thumb|[[Cessna 408 SkyCourier owned by FedEx Feeder and operated by Mountain Air Cargo]]
FedEx Feeder is the branding applied to smaller FedEx Express propeller-driven aircraft that feed packages to and from airports served by larger jet aircraft.
In the United States, FedEx Express operates FedEx Feeder on a dry lease program where contractors rent aircraft from FedEx to operate routes as assigned by the company. The contractor is responsible for providing a crew to operate the aircraft and coordinating all maintenance. In exchange, FedEx pays a monthly administrative fee and reimburses the contractor for any expenses related to the operation and maintenance of the aircraft. Because the aircraft is owned by FedEx, it may not be used by the contractor for any purpose other than necessary for operating FedEx Feeder routes assigned to it.
thumb|A Boeing 737-800 operated by [[ASL Airlines Belgium for FedEx Express]]
Outside the United States, contractors operating FedEx Feeder routes may sometimes fly their own aircraft. In that case, the aircraft may not be in the FedEx Feeder livery and the contractor may be able to carry cargo for other companies with the FedEx cargo.
List of contract carriers:
- ASL Airlines Belgium
- ASL Airlines Ireland (largest contractor, European partner)
- Airwork
- Baron Aviation Services
- Cargojet
- Carson Air (regional routes in Western Canada)
- Corporate Air
- CSA Air
- Empire Airlines
- IFL Group
- Merlin Airways
- Morningstar Air Express (also operates mainline FedEx service within Canada)
- Mountain Air Cargo
- Solinair
- Swiftair
- West Air Inc.
- Wiggins Airways
Environmental initiatives
Delivery fleet
thumb|[[Navistar eStar all-electric van in Los Angeles in 2010. The EV was manufactured in the U.S. under license from Modec.]]
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. 93 of these operated in the United States in New York, Tampa, Sacramento, and Washington, D.C.; while the rest operated in Tokyo, Toronto, and Turin.
FedEx claimed that the hybrid truck in the 2003 test decreased soot by 96% and emissions by 65%. It also claimed that the truck achieved more than 50% better fuel consumption 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 consisted of ten hybrid vans deployed in the Italian cities of Milan and Turin. FedEx claimed the new vans would have a 26.5% reduction in fuel consumption and a decrease in carbon dioxide emissions of 7.5 tons when compared to FedEx's standard vehicle. The trial was set to conclude in May 2010 and FedEx would then 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, to be put into service in The Bronx, New York City. The Bronx became FedEx's first all hybrid station. The addition would bring FedEx Express' fleet of hybrid electric and electric vehicles to 325.
Aircraft modernization
FedEx Express, like most cargo airlines, operates a fleet of older and less efficient aircraft when compared to passenger airlines. However, the company has been making an effort to phase out older aircraft, especially its trijets, and replace them with newer twin-jet models.
The trijet Boeing 727 was replaced in 2013 with the twin-jet Boeing 757; which the company says is more fuel-efficient. A portion of the Boeing 727s were donated to flight schools.
Since 2013, FedEx has been purchasing new built 767 and 777 freighters, taking advantage of lower pricing as Boeing worked to replace both models. The purchase set off a major shuffle in the FedEx fleet. The 777 aircraft have replaced the older trijet MD-11 on long-range, international routes, freeing up the MD-11 fleet to fly shorter routes. That move allowed the old tri-jet DC-10 aircraft to be retired in 2023.
|-
|1406
|1996-09-05
|
|McDonnell Douglas DC-10-10
|0/5
|Bound for Logan International Airport, the aircraft experienced an in-flight fire in the cabin cargo compartment, and diverted to Stewart International Airport in Newburgh, New York to make an emergency landing. After landing, the fire consumed the aircraft.
|-
|14
|1997-07-31
|
|McDonnell Douglas MD-11
|0/5
|Arriving at Newark Liberty International Airport from Anchorage International Airport at the end of a scheduled flight, the number 3 (right-side) engine contacted the runway during a rough landing which caused the aircraft to flip over. The crew escaped through a cockpit window before the aircraft was destroyed in the ensuing fire.
|-
|087
|1999-10-17
|
|McDonnell Douglas MD-11
|0/2
|Upon landing at Subic Bay International Airport from Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport, the aircraft overran the whole length of the runway and plunged into the bay where it was completely submerged. It was subsequently written off.
|-
|1478
|2002-07-26
|
|Boeing 727-232
|0/3
|On final approach to Tallahassee International Airport (then known as Tallahassee Regional Airport) from Memphis International Airport, the aircraft's landing gear hit a tree about high and short of the runway which caused it to crash into the trees and open field short of the runway into parked construction vehicles, coming to rest about 1,000 feet short of the runway and facing in the opposite direction of its flight path. The aircraft was destroyed in the ensuing fire.
|-
|647
|2003-12-18
|
|McDonnell Douglas MD-10-10
|0/7
|After landing at Memphis International Airport from Metropolitan Oakland International Airport, the right main landing gear collapsed and caused the aircraft to veer off the runway. The aircraft was destroyed in the subsequent fire.
<!--Commented out because this was a FedEx Feeder service, not under FedEx's AOC|-
|8060
|2005-10-06
|C-FEXS
|Cessna 208B Super Cargomaster<BR /><small>(operated by Morningstar Air Express)</small>
|1/1
|Operating as a Fedex Feeder flight, the aircraft departed Winnipeg International Airport, destined for Thunder Bay International Airport. On initial climb-out, the aircraft experienced in-flight icing, causing it to rapidly lose altitude. The aircraft crashed on a CN main line while attempting to return to Winnipeg. The pilot was killed but she is credited with trying to avoid casualties on the ground and avoiding several tall buildings.-->
|-
|630
|2006-07-28
|
|McDonnell Douglas MD-10-10
|0/3
|After landing at Memphis International Airport following a flight from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, the left main landing gear collapsed. Following the landing gear failure, the number 1 (left-side) engine contacted the runway and caused a small fire and structural damage to the aircraft. The aircraft was written off.
|-
|80
|2009-03-23
|
|McDonnell Douglas MD-11
|2/2
|The first fatal accident in the mainline history of FedEx Express, this aircraft suffered multiple bounced landings on its nose before crashing at Narita International Airport while 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, killing both the captain and first officer, the only occupants.
|-
|910
|2016-10-28
|
|McDonnell Douglas MD-10-10
|0/2
|Upon landing on Runway 10L at Fort Lauderdale–Hollywood International Airport, the left main landing gear collapsed due to fatigue cracking. The aircraft's left wing then caught fire and continued down the runway, scraping on the left engine cowling, before coming to a stop approximately down the runway. The aircraft was written off.
|}
Northrop Grumman Guardian
thumb|A [[McDonnell Douglas MD-11 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 attempted shootdown of a DHL Airbus A300 in 2003. FedEx supplied an MD-11 and a leased Boeing 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 it equipped an MD-11 freighter with the pod. By December 2007, the company had nine aircraft equipped with the system for further testing and evaluation. Because of the program's success, the U.S. Congress directed DHS to extend it to passenger-carrying aircraft.
Sorting facilities
Americas
- Anchorage, AK – International transit hub
- Fort Worth, TX – Southwest hub
- Greensboro, NC – Mid-Atlantic hub
- Indianapolis, IN – National hub
- Miami, FL – Latin America hub
- Memphis, TN – Global "Superhub"
- Newark, NJ – East Coast hub
- Oakland, CA – West Coast hub
Asia
- Guangzhou
- Hong Kong
- Osaka–Kansai
- Tokyo–Narita
- Taipei–Taoyuan
- Dubai–International
Europe
- Paris–Charles de Gaulle
- Liege – Intra-Europe hub
- Cologne/Bonn
- London–Stansted
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
- TNT Airways
- Transportation in the United States
- UPS Airlines
- USPS
References
External links
- FedEx
- FedEx history
- FedEx Express site