DHL begins ABX cutbacks
DHL notified ABX Air this week it will cut its use of the carrier’s DC-9 freighters by 23 aircraft starting next week, starting the DHL restructuring in the United States that will move the express operator’s volume over to UPS.
The cutback will reduce ABX revenue by approximately USD 3 million, the airline said. It is not yet known how many employees will be affected.
On May 27, DHL informed ABX Air that, starting in the third quarter, it intends, as a part of phase one of its cost-reduction programs, to remove from service over the next 12 to 18 months, 39 of 55 DC-9 aircraft that ABX Air has dedicated to DHL’s U.S. network.
“This reduction is in line with what we have planned for, and we are taking the steps necessary to accommodate these changes,” said Joe Hete, president and CEO of parent company Air Transport Services Group. Hete emphasized that his company will continue to perform under the current ACMI agreement and to pursue efforts to present DHL with a flexible plan to maintain a dedicated, efficient, and customized air network in the United States. The ACMI agreement with DHL includes a put provision that gives ABX Air the option to retain or to sell back to DHL the aircraft removed from the DHL network.
ABX has lately been aggressively expanding business with other customers. That effort will also continue, said Hete.
ABX Air has been DHL’s principal business partner in the United States since August 2003, when it became an independent publicly held company as its former parent, Airborne Express, was acquired by DHL.
DHL notified ABX Air this week it will cut its use of the carrier’s DC-9 freighters by 23 aircraft starting next week, starting the DHL restructuring in the United States that will move the express operator’s volume over to UPS.
The cutback will reduce ABX revenue by approximately USD 3 million, the airline said. It is not yet known how many employees will be affected.
On May 27, DHL informed ABX Air that, starting in the third quarter, it intends, as a part of phase one of its cost-reduction programs, to remove from service over the next 12 to 18 months, 39 of 55 DC-9 aircraft that ABX Air has dedicated to DHL’s U.S. network.
“This reduction is in line with what we have planned for, and we are taking the steps necessary to accommodate these changes,” said Joe Hete, president and CEO of parent company Air Transport Services Group. Hete emphasized that his company will continue to perform under the current ACMI agreement and to pursue efforts to present DHL with a flexible plan to maintain a dedicated, efficient, and customized air network in the United States. The ACMI agreement with DHL includes a put provision that gives ABX Air the option to retain or to sell back to DHL the aircraft removed from the DHL network.
ABX has lately been aggressively expanding business with other customers. That effort will also continue, said Hete.
ABX Air has been DHL’s principal business partner in the United States since August 2003, when it became an independent publicly held company as its former parent, Airborne Express, was acquired by DHL.
