FedEx has announced it has immediately removed eight aircraft from its fleet including A310 and MD10 aircraft. It is also accelerating the retirement of 66 further MD10 and A310s but has not indicated a time-line for this. Analysts have estimated this will reduce FedEx’s capacity by nearly seven per cent.

Although this represents a substantial proportion of FedEx’s 368 large jet aircraft fleet, the move is, in part, a restructuring of the fleet renewal programme which will see the older aircraft replaced with newer B757 and B767s. These models are, according to FedEx, either larger or 30 per cent more fuel efficient than the aircraft types they replace.