DHL Aviation

DHL Aviation

Type	division
Industry	Express Logistics, Air freight
Founded	1969
Headquarters	Cargo West, Derby, United Kingdom
Key people	Charles Graham, Global CEO
Owner(s)	Deutsche Post
Parent	DHL Express
Website	DHL Express Division - Aviations

DHL Aviation is a division of DHL Express (owned by Deutsche Post DHL) responsible for providing air transport capacity. It is not a single airline but refers to several airlines owned, co-owned or chartered by DHL Express. In 2009, Deutsche Post World Net rebranded to Deutsche Post DHL (DPDHL).

Overview

Deutsche Post owns four main airlines, which provide services by region:

• European Air Transport Leipzig is responsible for the major part of the European network and for longhaul services to the Middle East and Africa. From its hub at the Leipzig/Halle Airport it will operate a fleet of 11 Boeing 757 Freighters and 13 Airbus A300 Freighters (registered with Air Contractors).
• DHL Air UK is based at East Midlands Airport, was purchased by DHL in 1989, and has since 2000 been operating a fleet of 22 Boeing 757-200SF freighters on intra-European services. Since 2009, DHL Air UK has been operating a fleet of three new-built Boeing 767-300ERF Freighters, primarily on trans-atlantic routes. The airline has an order for a further three Boeing 767-300ERF aircraft, to be delivered in 2010 and 2011.
• DHL Aero Expreso is the subsidiary in Central and South America, operating a fleet of Boeing 727-200 Freighters in Central- and South America, as well as serving destinations in the Caribbean and Florida.
• SNAS/DHL handles Middle East destinations, operating a fleet of Boeing 727-200 freighters. The fleet is deployed throughout the Middle East and in Africa.

Air Contractors Airbus A300-200F, flown for DHL, landing at London Heathrow Airport. (2010)

It also owns the following smaller airlines:

• DHL de Guatemala, Guatemala City.
• Aero Express Del Ecuador, Guayaquil, Ecuador.

Deutsche Post also has stakes in the following airlines, some of which also operate under the DHL brand or livery:

• AeroLogic, Schkeuditz (Leipzig), Germany (50%).
• Air Hong Kong, Hong Kong (40%).
• ABX Air, Inc. Wilmington, OH, USA (0%, Contract).
• Astar Air Cargo, Miami, FL, USA (0%, Contract).
• Blue Dart Aviation, Chennai, India (32%).
• Polar Air Cargo, Purchase, NY, USA (49%).
• Southern Air, Norwalk, CT, USA (0%, Contract).
• Solenta Aviation, Johannesburg, South Africa (unknown).
• Tasman Cargo Airlines, Sydney, Australia (49%).

Astar Air Cargo was formerly known as DHL Airways (and therefore carries the ICAO airline designator DHL) but has been partially sold and renamed.

Fleet

A Tupolev Tu-204C operated for DHL by Aviastar-TU at Sheremetyevo International Airport in Moscow, Russia.

DHL Express's global headquarters are part of the Deutsche Post headquarters in Bonn.

Accidents and incidents

• On June 6, 2011, a Solenta Aviation Antonov An-26 freighter flying for DHL Aviation crashed in the sea near Libreville, Gabon. Four people on board were rescued and transported to a local hospital, but were not seriously injured.