Walkaround

Boeing

767

767-300ER, -300F, KC-46A

in production CF6-80C2, PW4000 4 min read · updated 21 September 2026 · checked 22 September 2026

At a glance

Type card

In service variants767-300ER, 767-300F, 767-200 series, KC-46A
EnginesGeneral Electric CF6-80C2 or Pratt and Whitney PW4000
Typical seating218 to 290 in passenger configuration
AssemblyEverett, Washington
StatusCommercial freighter production ends 2027, tanker continues
Entered service1982

Program and production

Boeing announced in October 2024 that it would end commercial 767 production in 2027, and that plan is holding. The company will deliver the remaining 29 freighters on order and then stop building the commercial variant. From 2027 the Everett line produces 767-2C airframes only, as the basis for the KC-46A tanker for the US Air Force and international customers.

This is a quietly significant moment for air cargo. The 767-300F has been the workhorse of the medium widebody freighter market for decades, and it is the aircraft that built the integrator networks at FedEx and UPS. Its closure removes a new build option in a size class where the alternatives are conversions of used passenger airframes or a step up to a larger and more expensive aircraft.

In plain terms

A factory built freighter is designed as a freighter from the start, with a stronger floor, a main deck cargo door and no cabin systems. A converted freighter is a used passenger aircraft rebuilt for cargo. Conversions are cheaper, but they start with an airframe that already has cycles on it.

The tanker side keeps the type in production in a different form. The KC-46A has had a long and troubled development, but it is now delivering, and the order book supports the Everett line for years.

Technical and maintenance

No new fleet wide Airworthiness Directive of major significance was issued against the commercial 767 in this period.

The dominant maintenance theme is age. Much of the passenger 767-300ER fleet is well past twenty years old, and the freighter fleet includes airframes converted after long passenger careers. Corrosion, wiring and fatigue findings on high cycle aircraft drive the workload.

On the line

On converted 767 freighters, pay attention to the interaction between conversion era modifications and the original structure. Repairs and reinforcements installed during conversion can complicate later inspection access and can change what a structural task actually requires. Records quality on twice converted airframes is often the real obstacle, so budget time for the paperwork as well as the work.

The CF6-80C2 and PW4000 are mature engines with well understood behaviour, but both are supported by a shrinking pool of shops and a used serviceable material market that has tightened as retirements slow. Operators keeping 767s flying longer than planned should expect longer lead times on major rotable parts.

Orders and operators

The remaining 29 freighter orders are the last commercial 767s that will ever be built. After they deliver, operators wanting more 767 freighter capacity will be buying used passenger airframes and converting them.

FedEx and UPS remain the largest 767-300F operators. On the passenger side, Delta and United continue to operate substantial 767-300ER and 767-400ER fleets, in both cases well into extended service life.

Safety

A 21 Air Boeing 767-300 freighter operating as Amazon Air Flight 7598 overran the end of runway 30 while landing at Miami International Airport on 6 September 2026, on arrival from Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The aircraft ran off the runway end, struck a van and a car on the ground, and caught fire. Five people in those ground vehicles were killed. Both pilots were injured and survived.

The NTSB opened investigation number DCA26MA352 and published an investigative update on 9 September. According to that update, the cockpit voice recorder captured one pilot cautioning that they were too fast during the descent, and excessive speed was raised repeatedly without a consistent response. The aircraft touched down at 158 knots groundspeed. A go around was called about 15 seconds before the recording ended, and the flight data recorder shows the aircraft departing the paved surface shortly after that, with neither speed brakes nor thrust reversers deployed.

The five deaths on the ground were reported by CNN and ABC News rather than in the NTSB update. No cause has been determined, and nothing about it should be inferred until the board reports.

United Airlines Flight 169, a Boeing 767-424ER arriving from Venice, struck a light pole on the New Jersey Turnpike while on final approach to runway 29 at Newark Liberty International Airport on 3 May 2026, at about 13:50 eastern daylight time. A landing tyre and the underside of the aircraft contacted the pole, and debris from it then struck a tractor trailer travelling southbound on the turnpike. The aircraft landed safely, and none of the 221 passengers and 10 crew were hurt. The driver of the tractor trailer sustained injuries that were not life threatening. That investigation, NTSB number DCA26FA194, also remains open.

In plain terms

An open NTSB investigation means the facts are still being gathered. Early reporting about what happened is not a finding, and an aircraft being involved in an occurrence does not by itself imply anything about the aircraft type.

Sources