FedEx Panda Express: How Do You Move a Panda
Dave Lange, Managing Director, Aircraft Charters, FedEx Express wrote this post ‘How Do You Move a Panda’at the FedEx Panda Express Blog.
Whenever FedEx takes on a VIP shipment like Tian Tian and Yang Guang’s journey from China to Scotland, we get a lot of questions about just what goes into making a move like that happen. As the head of charter operations here at FedEx Express, I oversee most of the logistics behind special moves such as the one coming up on December 4.
Here’s a little snapshot of all the behind-the-scenes activity that made this delivery possible:
We wanted to ensure that everyone who sees the plane and trucks moving Tian Tian and Yang Guang know just what VIP (Very Important Panda) cargo is being carried inside. To make that hope a reality, we had enormous decals printed and applied to the “FedEx Panda Express” aircraft and vehicles. The decaling process for our Boeing 777F aircraft took several days to complete – all of which we captured in the time-lapse video you can watch here below.
In 2010, FedEx had two specially-designed panda enclosures built for the safe and secure China homecoming of U.S.-born pandas Tai Shan and Mei Lan. Those enclosures were pulled out of storage and fully refurbished – securing a seal of approval from animal specialists at the Memphis Zoo, which has been home to two pandas since 2003. On November 18, these two enclosures were shipped FedEx (what else!) to China in anticipation of the pandas’ departure.
As we get closer to the holiday season, FedEx enters its busiest time of year with retailers and shoppers mailing gifts around the world. Despite the steadily increasing package volumes, FedEx was committed to dedicating a Boeing 777F – the world’s largest twin-engine cargo plane and the most fuel efficient wide-body aircraft in our fleet – solely to the pandas’ journey. To make it happen we carefully planned our crew schedules and aircraft locations to be sure the pilots would be ready and waiting in China, and the designated “FedEx Panda Express” aircraft would be in Memphis the week of Thanksgiving for its special decaling and back in China before December 4. Making all of that happen in a network with hundreds of planes and thousands of pilots flying around the globe each and every night is no mean feat!
Source: FedEx Express
