FedEx orders four more 777 freighters from Boeing

FedEx announced Friday that it has ordered four more 777 freighters, part of the 20 new 777 orders from undisclosed customers that Boeing reported Thursday on its website.

The order is worth just over $1 billion at list prices. After standard discounts, the actual price estimated by aircraft valuation firm Avitas is about $645 million.

FedEx, which is moving aggressively to renew its fleet as the cargo market recovers, said it also will buy two 777 freighters indirectly from another source.

Earlier this year, FedEx bought two never-used 777 freighters from Air France.

Bob Dahl, managing director of Seattle-based industry consultancy Air Cargo Management, said other possible sellers of the two additional jets include China Southern, which parked its first two 777Fs in the Arizona desert due to the air cargo slowdown.

FedEx in 2006 ordered 15 of the 777Fs, of which six have been delivered.

The four new orders are separate from a Jan. 2009 conditional order for another 15 of the planes. FedEx specifically made that order subject to cancelation if Congress passes legislation with a labor provision that FedEx sees as detrimental to its business.

FedEx objects to a provision inserted into the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Reauthorization Act at the behest of its business rival UPS and the Teamsters union. The provision would reclassify FedEx drivers in a way that would make it easier for unions to organize them.

In March, the House passed a version of of the bill that includes the provision to which FedEx objects. The Senate later passed a version without the provision, and a final bill has not emerged.

Dominic Gates: 206-464-2963 or dgates@seattletimes.com