UPS Grounds MD-11 Fleet After Kentucky Cargo Jet Crash. What to Know.

A MD-11 plane. (BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images)

Key Points

• UPS grounded its MD-11 jets following a crash, citing safety and manufacturer recommendations.
• The MD-11 that crashed this week had recently undergone several weeks of maintenance in San Antonio.
• UPS stock is up 3% since the accident but is down 24% year to date due to falling sales and higher labor costs.

United Parcel Service has decided to ground its MD-11 fleet “out of an abundance of caution and in the interest of safety” following the tragic crash of one of its cargo jets, the company said Friday.

UPS flight 2976 crashed at 5:15 p.m. Eastern on Tuesday shortly after taking off from Louisville, Ky. UPS says it made the move to ground its fleet on Friday.

“We made this decision proactively at the recommendation of the aircraft manufacturer,” said the company in an emailed statement. “Nothing is more important to us than the safety of our employees and the communities we serve.”

At the end of 2024, UPS owned and operated 294 aircraft, including 38 MD-11 jets. (UPS also uses hundreds of jets chartered and operated by others.)

UPS said it had 26 MD-11s that are now grounded. “Contingency plans are in place to ensure we can continue to deliver the reliable service our customers around the world count on,” the statement said.

FedEx has made the same decision to ground its MD-11s, according to reports. The company didn’t immediately respond to Barron’s request for comment about the grounding. At the end of May, FedEx reported 34 MD-11s in its fleet of almost 700 jets.

Videos of Tuesday’s crash show an engine came off the plane, with another engine in flames as the jet went down the runway.

The MD-11 is a three-engine, twin-aisle jet built by McDonnell Douglas, which merged with Boeing in 1997. The MD-11 entered commercial service in 1990. Production ceased in 2000. The plane model is powered by GE Aerospace CF6 engines, which entered service in the 1970s. The plane hasn’t been in passenger service since 2014.

The MD-11 that crashed was recently in San Antonio for several weeks for maintenance, according to the National Transportation Safety Board, which is leading the investigation.

Through Friday trading, UPS stock has climbed 3% higher since the accident, while the S&P 500 was down about 1%.

UPS shares, however, are down about 24% year to date. Investors have been concerned about falling sales and earnings amid lower domestic volumes and higher labor costs.

Harder times started for the company after 2022, when UPS reported full-year earnings per share of $12.94 from more than $100 billion in sales driven by a post-pandemic boom in shipping volumes.

Sales for full-year 2025 are expected to be $88 billion, according to FactSet, with earnings per share are expected to be $6.88.

Write to Al Root at allen.root@dowjones.com