MD-11 UPS

Scale-looking Mcdonell Douglas MD-11F Trijet Cargo Airliner with interior in UPS (United Parcel Service) Airlines livery.

Headquartered at Kentucky USA, UPS is one of the largest air freighter and cargo transport service company in the world. UPS acquired its first MD-11F aircraft in 2001, and subsequently added more of the type on its fleet from converted passenger airframes as various airlines around the world began retiring the type from passenger service in the early 2000s.
UPS, along with FedEx, has kept operating their Md-11s for decades further as no other aircraft could match the high mass, high volume freight capacity of the MD-11 while being cheap and cost effective to operate at the same time. While both UPS and FedEx gradually retired many of the aging airframes, UPS kept about 27 aircraft in its fleet - becoming the largest remaining MD-11 operator in the world as of 2025, surpassing FedEx which used to have the largest fleet of MD-11Fs and converted cargo MD-11s from Passenger airlines, but now retains fewer aircraft.

That was until November 4, 2025, when Flight 2976 - a 34 year old MD-11F, crashed shortly upon take off from Louisville International Airport after a pylon component failure caused an engine to detach and damage the tail engine of the aircraft, causing loss of power and control for ascent. The crash killed 15 people both on the plane and on the ground and launched an FAA and NTSB probe and investigation that grounded all remaining MD-11 and DC-10 aircraft still in operation around the world which continues as of writing.

In late January 2026, UPS announced they are retiring all their MD-11 Aircraft for good, intending to gradually replace them with second hand 767s in the coming months - Marking a definite near end to the last remaining, still-flying representative of the Tri-Jet era.