The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said on Monday that the McDonnell Douglas MD-11, a plane involved in a deadly crash in November, has been given the all-clear to resume flight.An FAA representative stated, “The FAA approved Boeing’s procedure for safely returning MD-11 aircraft to service after a thorough evaluation.
On November 9, 2025, a few days after a disaster in Louisville, Kentucky, that claimed 14 lives, including 11 on the ground, the FAA issued an order to ground all MD-11s.
One of the cargo plane’s engines disconnected during takeoff and caught fire, causing the delivery corporation UPS’s aircraft headed for Hawaii to crash. When the plane struck nearby industrial buildings, it exploded.
A critical part connecting the engines to the wings had fatigue fractures and broke during takeoff, according to a preliminary study published by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) on November 20.
On May 19, an NTSB investigative hearing is set.
Boeing — which acquired McDonnell Douglas in 1997 — announced on Monday that, following the regulatory green light, it had sent MD-11 owners instructions for carrying out inspections on their aircraft.
UPS grounded the fleet four days after the accident, and its chief executive announced in late January that the company would speed up the retirement of the entire fleet, which began in 2023.
“UPS accelerated and completed the retirement of our MD-11s as part of our broader fleet modernization efforts, and the aircraft is no longer part of our operation,” a spokesperson told AFP on Monday.
FedEx, a competitor, by contrast, had been eagerly waiting to put its own MD-11s back into service.
During the presentation of quarterly results on March 19, Chief Financial Officer John Dietrich said he expected a return to service toward the end of the current quarter.
According to a statement sent to AFP on Monday, two FedEx MD-11s resumed commercial flights as early as Sunday, after “confirmation that the required repairs and inspections” specified by Boeing and approved by the FAA had been completed, and after test flights.
The two aircraft departed from Memphis Airport in Tennessee, one bound for Miami, Florida and the other for Los Angeles, California.
