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Contact:
Don Hanson |
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Contact:
Don Hanson |
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
97-59A
Long Beach, Calif., March 6, 1997
-- McDonnell Douglas has selected an airport complex at Goodyear,
Ariz., near Phoenix, as a principal center for converting McDonnell
Douglas DC-10 jetliners to advanced technology MD-10 cargo jets
for use by Federal Express.
The Douglas Aircraft Company division
of McDonnell Douglas has signed a contract to do major modifications
on at least 12 DC-10s for FedEx at the Goodyear site.
Under an agreement reached last
fall between McDonnell Douglas and Federal Express, Douglas Aircraft
will manage passenger-to-freighter modifications on up to 60 DC-10s,
which will be redesignated as MD-10s.
The number of conversions and
the timing will be determined by Federal Express as its needs
dictate.
Douglas will be responsible for
MD-10 engineering, systems integration, program management, flight
test and certification of the converted aircraft.
The Goodyear facility will be
operated under McDonnell Douglas' Federal Aviation Administration
repair station license, and will be the site of work performed
under a contract with Dimension Aviation. Work will begin at the
site this month.
McDonnell Douglas has signed a
separate contract with Dimension Aviation for work converting
MD-11 passenger jets to freighters for Federal Express. That work
also begins this month.
MD-10 modifications will be done
in two phases. The first step involves converting DC-10 passenger
jets to freighters. Completion of three aircraft is expected by
next fall. Deliveries under the initial contract will continue
on a regular basis into 2000.
A contract for the second phase
modifications has not yet been awarded. The second phase on each
aircraft will consist of installing the McDonnell Douglas Advanced
Common Flightdeck which requires a crew of only two people, rather
than the three-person DC-10 crew.
Honeywell Air Transport Systems
of Phoenix will provide the advanced avionics systems for the
cockpit.
Federal Express is acquiring passenger
DC-10s from both United Airlines and American Airlines for the
passenger-to-cargo conversion and will require the advanced flightdeck
on those aircraft.
The Goodyear facility includes
two large aircraft hangars totaling more than 240,000 square feet
of space, more than 65,000 square feet of support shops and office
space, plus associated taxiways and ramp space for aircraft parking.
The location will accommodate work on as many as four DC-10s at
one time.
McDonnell Douglas has also selected
Aeronavali, a company in the Finmeccanica / Alenia group in Italy,
to be a European second source location for DC-10 conversions.
Aeronavali, which has capacity available for work exceeding the
current availability of domestic facilities, will convert 13 DC-10
Series 10s to the freighter configuration starting this year.