Somebody was spreading a rumor at World that UPS is unhappy with the MD-11 and is pulling back on using them in the trans pacific market. Any comments?

 

Pretty much a true statement. They will be flying more and more domestic as the 747-400 comes online. The maintenance reliability is just not what they were hoping for

 

The MD is a very good aircraft for UPS. It does have some MX reliability issues, but that's really caused by a combination of several factors. First, we fly this plane a lot. And I mean a lot. There just isn't much down time to fix the little or recurring things. Second, our line MX folks have never received specific MD training at many of our gateways. Now most of the maintainers are knowledgeable and some are great, but many times simple issues take a while to fix due to unfamiliarity with this electric jet.

The MD is too small for several of our global trunk routes. This is a good problem to have, so the 747-400 will naturally pick up this load. This actually will free up aircraft for some domestic legs where the volume requires the MDs size. However, flying this jet from MEM-SDF-MEM each night won't help its MX reliability. I forsee the MD doing more domestic short haul and trans cons, and more intra-Asia Clark hub trips too.

This is really all the result of our international growth and need for more domestic lift. While the MD is no Boeing (really), I think its been a great plane to fly. It is truely a wonderful long range international jet with all the bells and whistles. With that said, I'll move over to the -400 in a heartbeat as soon as the new Cologne domicile is officially announced.

 

The MD is at like 92% reliability. Mitch wanted a higher number like 96%. Mitch is the new boss over R. Barr. Mitch decided to move the MD over time to domestic as the 400 comes along. MD will be about half Intl. half domestic within two years according to some in the know.

Also looking at the 777 at these high fuel prices. This is maybe why they stopped the MD at 38 frames.

 

I think that math works out close to what I heard, 1 out of 18 flights is having a mechanical according to the school house folks. By comparison, the 767 is about 1 out of 65. They say, fwiw, that the 1/18 is about what FDX sees as well. I don't know if that is true or not.

 

That and there are/were only 195 MD-11 made that are still flying. With the A-380 and now the 787 being late, I'm sure the residual airframe value plus the cost of conversion added to its MX reliability and fuel usage, I would be disappointed in UPS if they weren't looking into other options. While the 777 would be the obvious choice of MD replacement/supplement, with the afore mentioned of the A-380 and 787 backlog, the residual 777 prices may be more than UPS can/will stomach. Not to mention the fact that if you want a new 777F, you may have awhile to wait since their PAX version is sold out for a little while. Just my 2 cents.

 

The residual prices for the 777 dont play since there is not a 777 conversion option. All 777 Freighters are new off the factory floor. And will stay that way until Boeing decides to offer a BCF version.

 

Rumor has it that the BCF line will start in 2012. The boss men over here (Purple) want to grow the airline with the 777, with the -F doing the ultra long range, the 200 LR replacing the MDs, and the A-model flying domestic. I flew with the former head of training and he claims part of our deal to buy the 777-F includes them starting a BCF line in 2012.

We run our 'dogs hard too! Looking back through the flight log it is rare to see more than a couple of hours off. The only time they get any real TLC is in heavy check at SIN or TPE. I'm not sure of our reliability but our Asia Mx is top notch.

 

Airbus is looking for a launch customer for the A330F. Wonder what they're offering?

 

They already have one(launch customer) and also tried to sell it to UPS after the 380 debacle, UPS was not interested. With the award of the 330 Refueling platform they are probably not offering ANYTHING.