FedEx expecting busy season at Indy hub
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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowThe managing director of the FedEx Express hub at Indianapolis International Airport says they are ready for a busy holiday season. The hub is the global shipping company’s second largest in the world, employing some 6,000 workers, and is in the midst of a $1.8 billion expansion that was first announced in 2018. “We’re getting at it, getting ready to deliver really good service during this peak season,” Jake Dorris said.
Dorris talked about the hub’s preparations for the holiday season, including hiring efforts, in an interview on Inside INdiana Business with Gerry Dick.
“We’re hiring now as part of the peak preparation, but we’re always hiring not only jobs, but careers…ranging from handlers, ramp workers and above,” said Dorris.
The FedEx Express Indianapolis Hub opened at the airport in 1988 with just over 300 workers. It’s success in Indy has led the company to expand its footprint statewide with 90 facilities across Indiana that account for 14,000 Hoosier jobs.
Dorris said the major expansion in Indianapolis will make the hub a state-of-the-art facility when completed.
“[We’re] adding square footage of sort facilities to make us more technologically efficient, expanding in terms of adding gates to the ramp to allow us to have more aircraft in and out to help service the customer.”
The National Retail Federation this month estimated e-commerce sales would grow between 10-12% during this holiday season.
As e-commerce activity ballooned during the pandemic, Dorris said the hub was always prepared, but didn’t expect it to come quite so quickly.
“We were very agile in adapting to it not only because of Indianapolis being a hub but all the team members coming together during the pandemic, making sure that we were ready to prioritize customer service,” he said. “Now, we’ve re-attained pre-pandemic service levels, so we’re very excited about continuing that positive trend into this peak season.”
In its fiscal first quarter earnings report in September, FedEx reported net income of $875 million, down from $1.1 billion during the same period the previous year. The company said the results were negatively affected by service challenges at FedEx Express, including “global volume softness that accelerated in the final weeks of the quarter due to weakening economic conditions.”