MIAMI — With over three-and-a-half decades of uninterrupted serial production, the Boeing 767-300 dwindling logbook could see an extension with the eventual announcement of FedEx to acquire up to 50 additional freighter aircraft, with an estimated value at nearly $10 billion.The story, initially reported on July 8 by Leeham News and Comment, stated that FedEx could also add up to 10 777F as well. This order, besides its $3.2 billion value, also closes further the gap in the transition between the current 777 and the forthcoming 777X production lines, due for its first delivery in 2020.According to Boeing's orders and deliveries website, FedEx has taken delivery of 18 out of 53 767-300F aircraft, and operates 22 Boeing 777F with 9 left on the backlog.This FedEx order seems to find a partial replacement of its fleet of 373 planes, of which 88 are aging Airbus A300s and A310s -nearing two decades old, and 49 are McDonnell-Douglas MD-10 trijets which in average near four decades of service, according to information available at AeroTransport Data Bank website.
A Healthy Backlog, a Bullish Future
Just one year after the delivery of the last 767-300 passenger variant built to Kazakhstan flag carrier Air Astana, and overshadowed by the Airbus A330neo program, the Boeing 767-300 production system is undergoing a revitalization that seeks both the optimization of costs and keep the 767 line alive for the years to come, ahead of the 767-2C program and freighter programs. So far, Boeing has not revealed any plans to launch a 787 freighter variant that could replace the 767.
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