Steve Waller, senior vice-president of Network Transportation at DHL Airways, says the documents express carrier "-is truly a company without a national identity". DHL Airways is the US operational arm of DHL International, a private company with major stakes held by Japan Air Lines (JAL), Lufthansa Cargo and Deutsche Post of Germany, although the US company is structured with much smaller shares for the non-US investors, both are integral parts of the DHL Worldwide Express network.
"Our US business is only a quarter of our global revenues, and this sets us apart from the likes of UPS, FedEx and others," says Waller, adding: "Therefore, our air networks are not designed on the USA, our strength, instead, is every region of the globe." DHL Airways was set up in 1983, so that "-we could be competent and competitive both for US and international customers - as an adjunct to our worldwide network, and all we do is move express overnight traffic - no deferred business."
DHL Airways has almost 100 aircraft (including chartered light freighters such as Cessna Caravans and Convair 580s) dedicated to moving 150,000 shipments every night, with the main hub in Cincinnati, Ohio, with daily links to its European hub in Brussels, Belgium, where another DHL airline, European Air Transport (EAT), runs a Europe-wide network.
"Unlike EAT, which wet-leases heavily, we own and operate most of the heavy freighter aircraft," says Waller, describing the current fleet of 11 Boeing 727-100s, nine Boeing 727-200s and seven McDonnell Douglas DC-8-73s as reflecting that "-our choice of aircraft is based on capital cost - we buy exclusively used aircraft, since the sums just don't work when you're looking at the new types, despite their cost efficiencies."
Following the same strategy, Waller describes why DHL has chosen to acquire used Airbus A300B4 freighters for use in the USA and Europe. "Airbus came to us with a deal for seven ex-Thai A300s and we decided that they would be excellent for the US domestic system," he says. EAT came to the same conclusion in Europe and it has leased nine aircraft. "The A300 has a lot more volume than the DC-8, more positions on the upper deck, with 20 88 x 125in [2.2 x 3.2m] pallets instead of 18. You can also put 20 LD-3 containers in the belly of the aircraft," Waller notes.
DHL's deal for the ex-Thai A300s has slipped by some six months, but Waller hopes that the first aircraft will be in service in the first half of next year.
He believes that it is only a matter of time before a small 747 freighter fleet will be considered for DHL's system. "We move a staggering 136,000kg every day across the Atlantic," he says. "With these volumes, it is only a matter of time before we have to look at taking 747s".
Source: Flight International
