UPS announced Tuesday that it has retired its entire fleet of McDonnell Douglas MD-11 cargo planes, less than three months after one crashed during takeoff in Louisville, killing 15 people — the three-person crew and 12 others on the ground. CEO Carol Tome said during a fourth-quarter earnings call that the company decided to “accelerate our plans and retire all MD-11 aircraft in our fleet.” The Nov. 4 crash resulted when the plane’s left engine fell off the wing, leaving the aircraft unable to climb beyond 30 feet before it struck a nearby recycling plant and auto salvage yard.
The decision removes 9 percent of UPS’s cargo capacity and signals the severity of the maintenance failures the Federal Aviation Administration identified in the crash. The FAA grounded all MD-11 aircraft across the industry after the Louisville incident and continues to review whether the planes should be allowed to return to service.
UPS Moves to Retire MD-11s Following Crash
UPS announced Tuesday that it will retire its entire fleet of McDonnell Douglas MD-11 cargo planes, accelerating the company’s timeline. The decision comes less than three months after one of the aging aircraft crashed during takeoff in Louisville, killing 15 people and prompting scrutiny of the model’s airworthiness across the industry.
CEO Carol Tome said during the fourth-quarter earnings call that the company decided to “accelerate our plans and retire all MD-11 aircraft in our fleet.” The retirement will eliminate a segment representing 9 percent of UPS’s cargo capacity and result in an after-tax charge of $137 million to write off the aircraft.
The Louisville Crash and Its Aftermath
The Nov. 4 crash at Muhammad Ali International Airport killed the plane’s three-person crew and 12 people on the ground. The aircraft’s left engine separated from the wing during takeoff. With the engine gone, the plane climbed only about 30 feet before crashing into a nearby Kentucky Petroleum Recycling plant and Grade A Auto Parts auto salvage yard, where many of the ground casualties were working or visiting.
The Federal Aviation Administration grounded all MD-11 aircraft nationwide immediately after the crash. An FAA statement issued Tuesday said the agency continues to review “all the facts and circumstances” in deciding whether MD-11s would be allowed to fly again.
The Investigation and Industry Response
The National Transportation Safety Board found cracks in some of the parts that held the engine to the wing of the UPS aircraft. Those cracks were not caught during regular maintenance. The last inspection of the critical engine mount parts occurred in 2021, more than three years before the crash.
The discovery highlighted a gap between inspection intervals and the structural degradation that occurs in aging cargo aircraft. These findings raised questions about maintenance protocols across the broader aviation industry.
The grounding also extended to other carriers operating MD-11s. FedEx and Western Global Airlines had their MD-11 fleets grounded by the FAA in November. FedEx officials said in December that they expect to return their MD-11 fleet to service by the company’s fourth quarter, which ends May 31, suggesting the aircraft may yet be cleared for limited operations.
UPS’s Replacement Strategy
To rebuild capacity lost from retiring the MD-11s, UPS will receive 18 new Boeing 767 aircraft over the next 15 months. As the MD-11s remained grounded, UPS brought in aircraft from other parts of the world, increased ground transportation volume, and leased additional planes to maintain service levels.
Tome said during the call that she was “incredibly proud of our team at Worldport and how they responded to this accident.” She also thanked the Louisville community and business and industry partners for their support following the crash.
The retirement decision effectively ends the MD-11’s cargo service life in the U.S. commercial fleet, removing one of the last operational examples of the Douglas twin-deck design that once dominated long-haul cargo operations.