FedEx has retired the last of its Boeing 727 aircraft, which played a key role in the growth of the business.
Deregulation of the US airline industry in 1977 enabled FedEx to start using the 727s instead of the small Dassault Falcons that it had been using before.
The Boeing 727 first joined the company’s fleet in January 1978 and opened the way to the expansion of the business.
“For more than three decades, our Boeing 727 fleet was instrumental in our company’s domestic growth,” said David J. Bronczek, president and chief executive officer, FedEx Express.
FedEx was at one point the world’s largest operator of the aeroplane, with 170 727 models within its fleet at any one time.
The retirement was marked by a ceremony which saw 1,000 company executives, air operations team members, and other guests, gather at the FedEx Express World Hub at Memphis International Airport, to mark the aeroplane’s last flight.
