Herman de Wulf/BRUSSELS
DHL International is standardising on the Airbus A300B4 freighter for its European operations and says it will need more than the 14 aircraft it has already agreed to acquire. The European arm of DHL has its main hub in Brussels handling some 250t of freight a night.
DHL had been relying on a mixture of turboprop freighters such as the Lockheed L-188 Electra, and the Boeing 727 tri-jet, but the company decided last year to begin switching to a widebody.
The express cargo carrier has five A300B4Fs operational, with two more to be delivered before the end of the year and another five in 1999. All the cargo conversions are being carried out by Daimler-Benz Aerospace Airbus.
DHL says high growth, coupled with environmental pressure to keep the number of aircraft movements down, means there is a demand for bigger aircraft. "The A300B4-200F carries 42t [of cargo], while our 727s carry only 20t. We do not want to increase the number of aircraft movements at Brussels Airport," says the company, which aims to keep the number of aircraft movements at the present level of 56 a night .
While the European fleet, managed by DHL's Brussels-based subsidiary European Air Transport, has introduced the A300B4F, plans for a similar move by the company to introduce the A300B4F in North America have been delayed.
US domestic arm DHL Airways has an agreement with Airbus to take seven ex-Thai Airways International A300B4s to operate from its hub in Cincinnati, Ohio. Although original plans called for the aircraft to enter service this year, a delay in the return of the aircraft to Airbus has put back their introduction until at least mid-1999.
Source: Flight International
