Southern Air, the US cargo airline flying long-haul for DHL Express, is to move to CincinnatiAirport, site of DHL’s US air hub.
The Kenton County Airport Board has approved a five-year agreement for Southern Air to leaseoffice space in the former Comair headquarters on the south side of the airport, local mediareported. The airport authority will spend $500,000 to modernise a building bought from Delta AirLines last year.
The state government has preliminarily approved $2.7 million in tax incentives for the $8.5million project to lure Connecticut-based Southern Air to Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky Airport(CVG).
Southern Air, owned by financial investors and headed by Dan McHugh, a former DHL Expressexecutive, operates a fleet of B777, B747-400 and B747-200 freighters which it flies on wet-leasecontracts for diverse customers.
It launched international flights from the USA on behalf of DHL last year. It is now usingfour new B777Fs to operate dedicated round-the-world flights from CVG via Bahrain to Hong Kong andback, and from Hong Kong via Los Angeles and Leipzig back to Hong Kong.
The older B747 planes fly on behalf of other customers. Owner Oak Hill Capital last yearinjected $55 million into Southern Air to finance its fleet renewal and growth plans.
