I don't think narrow-bodys can replace wide-bodys unless the tonnage is decreasing. Last I read we're flat to slightly increasing.

 

You rarely see a FedEx EXPRESS tractor trailer on the highway. You see LOTS of FedEx Ground and Freight. They are not carrying Express packages.

 

There are times that express packages are carried on trucks...based upon day, distance, type of express shipment.

Many shipments in certain markets, such as Friday shipment, next business day - not Saturday - are easily transported over road by tractor trailer. This has been going on for years, nothing new.

If they could ship it all via truck they would. They can't.

 

Can't speak for what YOU see or don't see, but there are plenty of Express trucks on the road. Maybe you should hang out at the MEM hub some morning.

Common sense tells me that if there was a cheaper way to move Express freight AND meet the commitment, Absolutely, Positively, Mr. Smith would have been doing it a long, long time ago. He has an image to protect, and he couldn't give a rat's patoot about airplanes or pilots. In fact, I imagine he would take great delight in replacing his union pilots with at-will truck drivers ... IF HE COULD!!!!


How many pilots do we have sitting standby, sitting reserve, flying sweeps and flying slow, circuitous recovery routes just to protect our overnight guarantee? The resources expended to protect our REPUTATION are astounding. It's our very reputation that sets us apart and makes our existence even possible. Until trucks clock in at 600+ mph, or until a decision is made to become an "also ran" instead of the industry leader, trucks won't be replacing jets.






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Mom doesn't let him drive on the highway, particularly at night.

 

All true. Had the opportunity a month or so ago to JS with a GOC supervisor. Lots discussed, but he emphasized that if "the plan" is working, all's&r well for them.

However if a plane goes down at an out station, weather affects an airport or region, anything out of the "the plan" occurs, then the FREIGHT RECOVERY people run the show. As TonyC pointed out, our reputation is worth a lot, albeit it's a psychological value, not a measurable spreadsheet asset.

As such, they'll lead efforts to put the plane where trucks (either owned or easily leased...) can get and move the packages. If it's a maintenance issue with the plane, then MX has an input in the selection, unless it's an emergency, in which case safe recovery of the plane trumps all.

Years ago, i was told by another GOC manager that am flights to ORF were high priority because the Chesapeake Bay Tunnel/Bridge would get so congested that freight needing to use it wouldn't get to the local sort or customer in time. Don't know the validity of that now....but it makes sense in terms of service reputation and guarantees.

 

When the brand name becomes the generic verb, the value becomes priceless. When you want to duplicate a document, you Xerox it, even if it's on a Kyocera machine, and when you need to send a package overnight, you don't UPS it, or DHL it, or even Post Office it. You FedEx it. Do you really think Mr. Smith's ego will ever allow anyone to damage that legacy?

He's rightfully proud of the brand name and the reputation it implies. He'll protect it with his dying breath. Anyone who believed the Red Letter threats to turn FedEx into a trucking company is the fool that he counts on to occupy the labor side of the bargaining table.



For clarity, allow me to repeat. If he could truck it, he would be trucking it already.






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The Express trucks move freight from the air ramps to the out stations that don't get air service after the air brings it in and they bring it to the air ramps to get flown out (i.e. Mobile to Pensacola, Vegas, to Baker, CA, etc). Express trucks don't move express freight from hub to hub.

 

All I know is I got PC'd (generic verb) out of my widebody capt seat a few years ago.

 

wall-to-wall FedEx EXPRESS trucks on the interstate between MEM & Little Rock every day AND night