Deutsche Post DHL yesterday officially gave the former DHL Express US air hub at Wilmington,Ohio, to the Clinton County Port Authority (CCPA) to help the region recover from the loss of
thousands of jobs in 2008/09 due to its domestic market pullout.The property transfer includes 1,500 acres of land and several buildings located, for the mostpart, “inside the fence” of the airport. ATSG and its business units ABX Air and AMES will continuetheir leases of buildings at the airport, DHL said.
The CCPA has been working together with the State of Ohio, the County Commissioners, the Mayor’soffice and other Economic Development leaders. They brought visitors to the Air Park, sharinginformation on building specifications and discussing possible business opportunities. Now, theCCPA will be able to enter into agreements with these groups and negotiate in more detail withthese potential tenants what it would take to make things move forward, DHL added in astatement.
“We are pleased to accept this donation today,” said John Limbert, Chairman of the CCPA. “However we understand it is just the beginning of the process of reactivating the Air Park. Thereis still a lot of work ahead of us.”
“I commend John Limbert of the CCPA who, along with State and Local Officials, worked diligentlyalongside our DHL team to conclude the donation agreement in the best interests of the localcommunity,” said Ian Clough, CEO of DHL Express USA. “With the official donation of the WilmingtonAir Park, we are confident that the community here and throughout southwest Ohio will be poised toprosper and attract new and exciting development to the Air Park property in the future.”
Deutsche Post DHL already agreed in January to donate the Wilmington Air Park to the localcommunity with a preliminary agreement for redevelopment and future use as an airport/commercepark.
In 2008, DHL restructured its US express business to stem losses, leading the company to focusentirely on its international services and eliminating the need to maintain the US$310 million AirPark in Wilmington, Ohio, as its principal US air hub. In August 2009, DHL moved the hub to asmaller facility at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky Airport (CVG) which employs 1,600 workers,including hundreds who transferred from Wilmington.
