DHL Express is modernising its fleet of sub-contracted cargo planes operating on domestic routesin the USA with four more freighters from Air Transport Services Group (ATSG) replacing inefficient
older B727s.The fleet carries international shipments between DHL’s US air hub at Cincinnati and inlanddestinations as well as to and from its other international gateways, such as New York and LosAngeles.
As of this month, ATSG subsidiary ABX Air has deployed three B767-200Fs under its CMI agreementwith DHL while another subsidiary, Air Transport International (ATI), is due to start operating aB757-200F under its multi-year ACMI agreement in March.
Under a fleet modernisation strategy undertaken by ATSG and DHL, the four additional planes havereplaced several older and smaller B727Fs operated by ATI and a third airline subsidiary, CapitalCargo International Airlines (CCIA), which stopped flying at the end of December 2012 and whichwill be sold off.
Rich Corrado, Chief Commercial Officer for ATSG, said: “These newer generation aircraft providegreater capacity, higher reliability and more efficient fuel burn, expanding and improving DHL’sservice for its customers. This commitment to service by both companies has allowed for exceptionalgrowth, particularly over the past two years.”
Overall, ATSG now has 27 planes available for use on DHL’s US domestic air network, comprising23 ABX Air-operated B767s (including three spares) and four ATI-operated B757s.
Twenty-three of the 27 aircraft are owned by ATSG, with ATSG subsidiary Cargo AircraftManagement (CAM) providing 13 of them under seven-year dry leases to DHL terminating either in 2017or 2018. The other four are owned by and leased from DHL.
In addition, Atlas Air is operating five B767-200 freighters on domestic US routes for DHLExpress under a contract that started last March, a DHL Express spokesman confirmed.
In total, 25 B767s and four B757s will therefore be flying for DHL Express in the USA as ofMarch 2013.
