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I have an International Priority parcel being shipped by FedEx from Zurich, Switzerland to Perth, Australia.

Currently the parcel is located in Singapore, I presume with FedEx at Changi Airport. It is scheduled to be delivered by 1700 on 09 October (GMT+8). The parcel (tracking #771679606750) is showing in tracking at Singapore since 0636 05 October (GMT+8).

From what I can see on FlightAware and Flightradar24 there are no scheduled FedEx Express flights from Changi to Australia, at least up to Wednesday 07 October as I can't see past that date.

This raises the question given the parcel is scheduled to be delivered by 09 October (GMT+8), if FedEx uses other airlines for parcels, or for International Priority parcels?

Note that Sydney is the usual point of entry for FedEx, and Perth is a day's flight from Sydney, and another day for distribution at Perth.

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    $\begingroup$ Bear in mind that FlightAware adn FR24 are hobby sites, not reliable sources for accurate flight information $\endgroup$
    – 60levelchange
    Oct 6, 2020 at 5:29
  • $\begingroup$ Then I guess this FedEx promise of more flights to Australia is out the window...newsroom.fedex.com/newsroom/… $\endgroup$
    – IlludiumPu36
    Oct 6, 2020 at 8:07

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There are regular flights between Singapore Changi and Sydney operated by FedEx Express. Here is a list of past flights from Singapore to Sydney (FDX9075):

FDX9075
(flightaware.com)

There are regular flights on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday. You can see that there was no flight on Monday, 05 October. This is likely because the aircraft coming from Sydney (FDX9077) diverted back to Sydney on Monday:

FDX9077
(flightaware.com)

I don't know the reason for the diversion, but as you can see, there is an MD11 enroute to Singapore right now. It is therefore likely that the same aircraft will depart Singapore back to Sydney later today as FDX9075, possibly carrying your parcel.

Update: Return flight is in the air right now:

FDX9075 enroute
(flightaware.com)

To answer your question about using other airlines:

Normally, FedEx does not use other airlines for international flights. They operate their own network of flights with their own airline FedEx Express. In these special times, it is quite possible that things have changed1, but I could not find anything official.

FedEx is however using a lot of other airlines for local transportation. They are called FedEx Feeder airlines. Wikipedia has list of them. They only operate regional aircraft (most of them ATRs).

1 Normally, a lot of air cargo goes on passenger aircraft (below the passenger deck). Due to the COVID pandemic, passenger travel is significantly reduced right now, which means more cargo needs to be transported on dedicated cargo aircraft than before.

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  • $\begingroup$ It should also be noted that during the holiday season, FedEx does wet lease aircraft from other operators to handle the significant uptick in packages. This can consist of 747’s, MD-11’s, and 767’s. However, this is usually only for the month preceding Christmas, and sometimes for the month following. $\endgroup$
    – Frank
    Oct 6, 2020 at 20:23
  • $\begingroup$ @Bianfable Great answer, thank you very much. Actually the package is now in Welshpool, Western Australia. This is where Perth Airport is located, and also FedEx. local.fedex.com/en-au/welshpool/pera I didn't think it would get here so fast after showing as in transit at Singapore....there is no tracking stamp for Sydney, and I didn't think FedEx flew directly to Perth... $\endgroup$
    – IlludiumPu36
    Oct 7, 2020 at 0:50
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I think bianfable answered what was going on in your specific case. Changi airport is the location of a large regional FedEx hub. To answer your general question, FedEx does sometimes place packages on pax airlines when something unusual has occurred, like it missed the flight.

I used to run missorts around the Memphis hub, usually to the aircraft itself. If I got there too late and the plane was closed up I would take the package to the expedite department. Depending on factors like, if it was perishable or a medical shipment, etc., and availability of pax flights they sometimes would send them with other airlines.

As far as regular movement of freight, the only outside airlines I know of is the feeder network that Bianfable mentioned. FedEx has a larger fleet than most pax airlines, so they move everything in-network.

When you look at FlightAware or FR24 the regularly scheduled flights are on there, but FedEx has a significant number of ad hoc flights that won't show on a schedule.

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Looks like FedEx may have used another carrier for this parcel which is now with FedEx in Perth as from Wednesday 7th October. The FedEx tracking shows no receipt for Sydney, just Singapore on Tuesday 6th October, then Welshpool in Perth, Western Australia on the 7th.

Scoot and Singapore Airlines both had direct lights from Singapore to Perth on Tuesday. There were no FedEx departures listed on FR24 for Tuesday from Singapore. Scoot and SA were the only flights to Australia from Singapore on Tuesday 6th. I think it may have been Scoot, which is a budget flight subsidiary of SA https://www.flightradar24.com/data/flights/tr8#25b1dbb9

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  • $\begingroup$ Interesting. Maybe they put it on a different flight because of the diversion back to Sydney on Monday. $\endgroup$
    – Bianfable
    Oct 7, 2020 at 6:41

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