DHL Express has contracted two B747 freighters from US cargo airline group Atlas Air in addition tothe six B747-400s of Atlas subsidiary Polar Air already due to start flying for it in October.
Atlas Air president and CEO, William J. Flynn, said yesterday the two B747s would startoperation for DHL Express on March 29, 2008, under a three-year, wet-leasing contract. Atlas didnot say on which routes the B747s would be operated.
“This service will be incremental to the six 747-400Fs that will provide express network ACMIservice to DHL starting on October 27, 2008,” Flynn said. Under a strategic alliance, Atlassubsidiary Polar Air will fly transpacific routes between the USA and Asia for DHL Express, whichnow holds 49% in the cargo airline.
Flynn noted that once the transpacific cooperation started, the Atlas Air group would nolonger be exposed to the commercial risk of filling the Polar Air freighters, yield risks frompricing and capacity management, or the related risk of fuel and fuel-price escalation.
Meanwhile, the Teamsters union announced it had reached a tentative agreement with DHLExpress for a new, nationwide deal in the USA. Details of pay and working conditions were notreleased.
“This agreement is truly historic. It is the first new national master agreement negotiatedin the transportation sector in decades. Negotiations in recent months have been as complex as anyI’ve been involved with but I am confident that we negotiated the best possible agreement for ourmembers,” said Brad Slawson Sr., chair of the Teamsters national negotiating committee.
The agreement requires endorsement by local union officials and then approval by the unionmembership.
