DPWN prompts EC investigation of UPS airline
Deutsche Post World Net has gone on the offensive against UPS in its long running dispute over the legality of its airline operations in the US. At its prompting, the European Commission has launched an investigation into the airline which UPS uses to carry its package volumes in the European Union.
The carrier at the centre of the new dispute, Star Air (not to be confused with US Astar Airways, formerly DHL Airways), is a subsidiary of Danish shipping conglomerate Moeller-Maersk. Although UPS has no official links with the airline, the EC is investigating whether it exerts de facto control as a result of being its main client. This would break regulations on the ownership of airlines operating within the EU due to the requirement to have majority EU ownership. Although the EC has no powers to revoke the carrier’s license, it could insist on the Danish government doing so if it finds that regulations have been transgressed.
Effectively this means that DPWN is using the same argument which UPS and FedEx have employed in the USA in an attempt to disrupt DHL’s ground and air operations. There they claim that Astar Airways is effectively controlled by DPWN. According to DPWN, it has made the complaint in order to demonstrate the alleged double standards by the US integrators.
