The McDonnell Douglas MD-11 is an American tri-jet wide-body airliner manufactured by American McDonnell Douglas (MDC) and later by Boeing.

Following DC-10 development studies, the MD-11 program was launched on December 30, 1986.

Assembly of the first prototype began on March 9, 1988. It rolled out in September 1989 and made its maiden flight on January 10, 1990. FAA certification was achieved on November 8. The first delivery was to Finnair on December 7, 1990, and it entered service on December 20.

It retains the basic trijet configuration of the DC-10 with updated GE CF6-80C2 or PW4000 turbofan engines. It has a slightly wider wing with winglets, and its MTOW was increased by 14% to 630,500 lb (286 t). Its fuselage is stretched by 11% to 202 ft (61.6 m) to accommodate 298 passengers in three classes over a range of up to 7,130 nmi (13,200 km). It features a glass cockpit that eliminates the need for a flight engineer.

The MD-11 failed to meet its range and fuel burn targets. The last of 200 aircraft was built in October 2000 after Boeing merged with McDonnell Douglas in 1997.

Some MD-11 freighters were built, but many more are converted MD-11 passenger aircraft, many of which are still in service with cargo airlines.

FedEx Express Flight 80 was a scheduled cargo flight from Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport in the People's Republic of China, to Narita International Airport in Narita, Chiba Prefecture (near Tokyo), Japan. On March 23, 2009, the McDonnell Douglas MD-11F (N526FE) operating the flight crashed at 6:48 am JST (21:48 UTC, March 22), while attempting a landing on Runway 34L in gusty wind conditions. The aircraft became destabilized at flare and touchdown resulting in an unrecovered "bounced" landing with structural failure of the landing gear and airframe, and came to rest off the runway, inverted, and burning fiercely. The captain and first officer, the jet's only occupants, were both killed.