DHL takes capacity stakes
DHL has long depended on the capacity of others for its cargo lift, but the operator’s latest moves in international and domestic markets show clear signs that controlling capacity is increasingly important in the express business. The carrier took a big step last month toward greater influence – although DHL insists it is not control – of lift with a 49 percent equity stake in ASTAR Air Cargo, one of its two outsourced lift providers in the United States.
The financial interest, for undisclosed terms, in the independent cargo airline that was once DHL Airways follows by several months DHL’s similar equity stake in Polar Air Cargo, a USD 150 million interest that came along with an agreement to guarantee DHL space on Polar’s 747 freighters. DHL also has increased its interest in Blue Dart, the largest domestic air express operator in India to boost its presence in that growing market.
“Our investment in ASTAR signals another major commitment to the U.S. market by DHL,” said Hans Hickler, chief executive officer of DHL Express in the United States.
Hickler joins the ASTAR board under the purchase, joining airline President and CEO John Dasburg and the two non-management owners. That, along with the 49 percent interest and 24.9 percent voting stake, keeps Deutsche Post-owned DHL within the bounds of U.S. legal restrictions against foreign ownership of airlines.
ASTAR attorney Elliott Seiden said the U.S. Department of Transportation had already approved the equity purchase. “We assured them this would not come close to tipping the scales on DOT’s ownership and control rules,” he said.
The only impact on ASTAR’s operations, said Seiden, was that DHL and ASTAR had extended their ACMI contract for U.S. domestic express flights for four years, to 2019, making their relationship “more stable, more secure.”
DHL’s other air capacity provider in the United States, ABX Air, has been seeking to diversify its business to become less dependent on DHL and recently signed a freighter lease agreement with All Nippon Airways. An ASTAR spokesman said DHL equity stake “doesn’t restrain or restrict ASTAR from pursuing” other business.
