Over the weekend, FedEx completed its final revenue flight utilizing an A310-300F. After completing a routine round-trip flight between Sioux Falls (FSD) and FedEx’s Memphis (MEM) hub on the morning of Jan. 4, the express company bid farewell to the final operating A310-300F (439) in its fleet.
This was the third A310-300F FedEx has retired since Christmas. Until recently, FedEx had operated the trio of A310-300Fs in scheduled service. Following the end of peak season in late December, the company retired units 449 and 457 [FATs 005273-5274]. The final A310-300F had continued to operate into January but was taken out of revenue service at 12:52 p.m. local time last Saturday when the aircraft was ferried to Victorville (VCV) for long-term storage [FAT 005275].
These retirements are part of FedEx’s long-term plan to modernize what was once a formidable fleet of 159 A310 and MD-10 freighters. FedEx once operated two variants of both airframe types including the A310-200F, A310-300F, MD-10-10F and MD-10-30F but is streamlining this size category of its fleet from four types to just two – freighter-converted 757-200Fs and new-build 767-300Fs. The smaller-variant of the A310, the -200F, was phased-out in 2016 following the redelivery of FedEx’s 119th 757-200SF. The larger-gauge A310-300F and the entire MD-10F fleet, meanwhile, have been gradually taken out of service as FedEx receives 767-300Fs.
With the last A310F now removed from service, just twenty-eight MD-10Fs remain in service. FedEx plans to park all remaining MD-10Fs by the end of its 2022 fiscal year, according to the company’s most recent Statistical Book. The company’s 767-300F fleet will continue to grow even after the last MD-10F is taken out of service, with FedEx committed to purchasing fifty more 767-300Fs.
Last year, FedEx took delivery of twenty 767-300Fs, bringing the total number of the medium-widebody freighter operating in its fleet to 82 units. Eight more units are expected during the course of this fiscal year (which ends May 31).
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