Shippers taking air out: ground deliveries rise after 9/11, recession. (Manufacturing/Distribution).(Brief Article)

Wheels are beating wings in the express delivery market.

Locally and nationally, many companies are cutting costs by switching at least some of their express-delivery shipments from planes to trucks. Many are finding that express-delivery companies have improved their ground services to be almost as efficient as air offerings.

The country's largest overnight delivery company, FedEx Corp., whose shipping operation at Indianapolis International Airport is its second largest behind its main hub in Memphis, Tenn., experienced a 2-percent drop in air shipments in the first quarter. Its ground service, however, showed a 21-percent increase.

Locally based delivery companies are reporting the same trend.

Dan Frieden, president of the trucking …