The world’s largest cargo carriers, UPS and FedEx, grounded their MD-11 freighter fleets at the recommendation of Boeing, the aircraft’s manufacturer.
US logistics companies UPS and FedEx have grounded their combined fleet of more than 50 McDonnell Douglas MD-11 cargo planes.
The decision, announced on Friday evening, followed a crash involving one of the planes at Louisville International Airport in Kentucky earlier that week, which killed at least 14 people.
A lot of retired commercial passenger planes end up being repurposed for cargo. Skewed more towards narrow body planes than wide body. Fuel efficiency becomes a problem with older wide body craft so freight companies tend to buy new for that size factor.
Source: buddy who works for a company as an aircraft maintenance tech.