DHL Express will make important changes to its Asia-US flight operations from March 31 and expanddomestic air capacity in India via subsidiary Blue Dart Aviation.
Polar Air Cargo, in which DHL now owns 49%, will replace Transmile, the troubled Malaysiancargo airline, for services between Asia and the USA as of March 31, DHL Express Malaysia countrymanager Sam Leong told local newspaper The Business Times.
No reason for the switch was given but Transmile, which has a strategic alliance with DHLExpress, recently announced it had stopped flights between Kuala Lumpur’s Subang airport and theUSA and would focus on intra-Asia services instead, the newspaper wrote.
The carrier, which flies ten weekly services between Subang and DHL’s Central Asia hub atHong Kong, would remain the partner for intra-Asia services, Leong stressed. Transmile hitfinancial problems last year due to accounting issues.
Meanwhile, Blue Dart Aviation, the DHL Express Indian cargo airline unit, will increase aircapacity by replacing its four B737 freighters with Boeing 757s, according to reports from India.The fleet expansion, planned for completion by 2011, would increase its capacity by 32%, theBusiness Standard reported. It currently operates two B757s and four B737s.
Blue Dart Aviation chairman Tushar Jani was cited as saying the Chennai-based airline couldnot simply add more planes due to a lack of parking space at Indian airports, and it wouldtherefore introduce larger, more modern 757s. Blue Dart could also launch international flights toand from Indian destinations in cooperation with DHL Express, according to recent reports.
