FedEx Express strengthens European air network

FedEx Express has announced plans to expand its operations in Northern Europe with four Boeing 757 freighters being added to its fleet to boost next-day services, and a new Berlin flight. The company that said last week it was planning on organic growth in Europe while its major rival UPS buys its growth by acquiring TNT Express, is adding the new aircraft to link eight major European airports.

The aircraft will replace two slower feeder services operated by small regional aircraft, and an Airbus A300 as the company continues to modernise its air fleet.

FedEx said it would be strengthening services from its European hub at Paris Roissy-Charles De Gaulle Airport (CDG) to Oslo, Sweden, Finland, the UK and the Netherlands with faster transit times and extended cut-off times.

Next-day services will improve for customers in those countries particularly for heavyweight shipments between 68kg and 1,000kg, with improvements outside Europe, for example to the US East Coast.

Inbound deliveries to Norway should arrive one business day earlier, while cut-off times for customers shipping out of Oslo will improve by up to two hours.

Transit times will also improve into and out of Birmingham, Helsinki and Stockholm and surrounding areas.

David Binks, the senior vice president for FedEx Express operations in Europe, said the new aircraft underlined his company’s commitment to European customers.

“We are continually enhancing our services to give European customers unrivalled performance and coverage – the introduction of these aircraft offer them more time to prepare packages and get them to their destinations in the fastest time possible,” he said.

Berlin

FedEx Express has recently opened a new 2,800 square metre station in the Neukölln area of Berlin, and said earlier this month that it is also introducing a new flight between Berlin Schönefeld Airport and the CDG hub.

It said the combination of the new flight and the new station would mean connecting the German capital to 90% of the world’s gross domestic product within two business days. It will mean customers in the Berlin, Leipzig and Dresden areas of eastern Germany having two and a half hours more time to get their packages prepared for a FedEx shipment.

The new flight will use an Embraer 120-type aircraft, flying four times a week.

Carl Graham, the managing director of operations for FedEx in central and eastern Europe said business had developed “incredibly” over the last few years in Berlin.

“Our network offers companies a wide range of ways to capitalise on the opportunities presented by the growth of global markets,” said Graham.