Service to make up for lost ground

Airborne Express, faced with an earning slump and increased competition, has launched a new ground-delivery service in the USA. Carl Donaway, president of the package express company, said Airborne decided to offer the less expensive alternative to its air delivery service in response to competition from rivals UPS and FedEx. “We feel it is essential to be able to offer full (ground capability) in this competitive environment,” Donaway said.
The service was launched on a limited basis in April, said Robert Mintz, a company spokesman and the firm has been rolling it out on a gradual basis the past few weeks.
Airborne hopes to increase business from its existing corporate clients and is less focused on attracting new customers with the service, Donoway said. Rich Corrado, Airborne’s vicepresident of marketing, said the carrier hopes to recapture business that it has lost to FedEx and UPS over the
east year or two by leveraging its existing air network to serve customers who want slower, but cheaper, ground deliveries. Airborne expects the service to add 15,000 deliveries a day within three months.
The new business will require an initial investment of about US$30 million Donaway said. Because the company already moves some of its cargo on the ground and can use existing storage facilities, the cost of setting up the service is relatively small.
He said he could not predict when the company might see a profit from the move.