In September of 1996, FedEx and McDonnell Douglas jointly announced a new program which would convert and upgrade McDonnell Douglas DC-10 aircraft to the newly launched MD-10 designation. This designation involves passenger to freighter conversion and a flight deck upgrade. In addition to the weight savings generated in the conversion, the most significant feature is the replacing of a three person cockpit to a two person glass cockpit. This state of the art cockpit and avionics upgrade will reduce the overall operating cost of the MD-10 over the DC-10 series of aircraft.
FedEx launched this program with McDonnell Douglas with an order for 60 conversion aircraft and options on an additional 50 planes. The first converted aircraft made its first test flight in April of 1999, and was subsequently delivered to FedEx after FAA certification in May of 2000.