Tag: Astar Air Cargo

ASTAR pilots ratify contract

Posted by | Mar 7, 2008 | |

ASTAR Air Cargo pilots have ratified a labor contract with the company, concluding long and sometimes contentious negotiations.

About 88 percent of eligible ASTAR pilots voted on the proposal, with 93 percent of them in favor, according to ASTAR Air Cargo Capt. Patrick Walsh, chairman of the ASTAR pilots union master executive council.

Under the terms of the deal, ASTAR flight crewmembers will receive retroactive pay and more than 20 percent in pay increases during the course of the four-year agreement, according to a news release from the crewmembers’ union, the Air Line Pilots Association International (ALPA).

In addition, the pilots get furlough protection and a commitment from the company to secure new aircraft, the release said.

One aspect of the job security convenant in the contract prevents the company from laying off any pilot for the first two years of the agreement, which will go into effect Saturday.

The two sides began negotiations in January 2005, and since April 2006 the talks were held with the assistance of the National Mediation Board.

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DHL rivals in the USA show no appetite for owning aircraft

Posted by | Sep 3, 2007 | |

DHL added another airline to its line-up this spring with the acquisition of a stake in Astar Air Cargo, but the other mega-forwarders have no interest in owning cargo aircraft, despite a penchant for dedicated freighter-cargo flights.

DHL’s appetite for cargo airlines suffered a setback in July when ABX Air, the erstwhile freighter division of Airborne Express spun off after the integrator’s acquisition by DHL, rebuffed a takeover offer from Astar Air Cargo, the former DHL Airways. A marriage between the two would have combined the two US cargo carriers that make most of their business moving traffic for DHL. The integrator had acquired a 49 percent stake in Astar in early June along with a 24.9 percent voting interest, the maximum position in US airlines allowed to non-US entities.

DHL’s express business in the US has suffered in the wake of the integration of its air network into a single hub and is not expected to produce black figures before 2009. Nevertheless, the buy into Astar did not surprise industry observers.

The Astar buy-in followed DHL’s acquisition of a 49 percent stake in Polar Air Cargo last year, which included a 20-year block space agreement giving the integrator guaranteed lift on Polar’s transpacific flights. For intra-Asia traffic, DHL has permanent lift through its stake in Air Hong Kong and the carrier’s A300F operations in the region.

These deals are fuelled by the logistics giant’s express business, but they also drop fixed capacity into the lap of DHL Global Forwarding.

The other global mega-forwarders like Schenker, Kuehne + Nagel or Panalpina, have ruled out the possibility of owning freighter aircraft, notwithstanding a need for dedicated cargo flights.

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ASTAR Air Cargo Acquires Aircraft

Posted by | Aug 1, 2007 | |

ASTAR Air Cargo today announced it has finalized terms to purchase two DC-8-73 aircraft with long-range capabilities and a spare engine currently leased from Bank of America’s leasing division. Acquisition financing to ASTAR has been arranged and is being provided by HSH Nordbank AG, New York Branch. The aircraft are part of ASTAR’s current dedicated fleet assigned to DHL Express under a long-term ACMI agreement expiring in 2019.

“ASTAR made the strategic decision to purchase these airplanes to enhance our position as a provider of airlift services for our primary customer, DHL Express,” said Steven A. Rossum, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of ASTAR. “Less than a year ago, HSH arranged and provided the financing to enable ASTAR to complete the acquisition of 20 Boeing 727-200A Freighters. This newest acquisition of aircraft is consistent with our business growth strategy to lower our costs and enhance our competitiveness”.

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Company won't increase its offer to buy ABX

Posted by | Jul 18, 2007 | |

ASTAR Air Cargo Holdings LLC said Wednesday that it still wants to buy competitor ABX Air Inc., but will not increase its offer of USD 7.75 per share for ABX, the cargo airline.

ASTAR also extended until the close of business on July 27 its deadline for receiving a response from ABX Air’s board of directors to the purchase offer, which could total more than USD 450 million. ABX said on Tuesday 17th July that its board is reviewing the offer and expects to respond this week.

John Dasburg, president and chief executive officer of Miami-based ASTAR, said he regards his company’s purchase offer as fair, even though Wall Street investors have pushed ABX’s stock price above USD 8 per share periodically since ABX revealed the ASTAR offer on June 28.

Shares of ABX closed at USD 7.91 on Wednesday, down 4 cents.

Dasburg, in a letter Wednesday to the ABX Air board of directors, said ASTAR’s original offer of USD 7.75 per share is fair in light of market prices of ABX stock prior to ASTAR’s offer. Dasburg also suggested that ABX’s value would suffer if the company should reject ASTAR’s bid.

ASTAR Air Cargo flies air cargo between the United States and destinations in Europe and the Middle East. It directs flight operations from Wilmington, and has other operations in New York, Los Angeles and Miami.

ABX is a major employer in Clinton County and surrounding counties with a work force of about 7,500 people at the Wilmington hub.

ASTAR was formed in 2003 after the spinoff of DHL Airways from DHL Worldwide Express.

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Deutsche Post reviving US air cargo ambition

Posted by | Jul 4, 2007 | |

Deutsche Post has quietly revived a plan to invest in the US air cargo industry which was dropped four years ago in the face of regulatory opposition.

The company last month acquired a 49 per cent stake in Miami-based Astar Air Cargo, which in turn launched an unsolicited bid for Ohio-based ABX Air. Both companies derive most of their business from long-term contracts with Deutsche Post subsidiary DHL.

The proposed deal follows years of wrangling over Deutsche Post’s role in the US air cargo business, which is subject to the same constraints over foreign ownership as passenger airlines.

DHL agreed to sell its 25 per cent stake in Astar – then known as DHL Airways – to a group of US investors in 2003 after rivals such as UPS and FedEx claimed it had broken the ownership laws.

DHL’s USD 1.05 billion purchase of Airborne Express was also subjected to similar scrutiny, and the air cargo company was spun off to shareholders and renamed ABX, while the German group kept the ground-based parcel business.

Astar, which is headed by former Northwest Airlines chief executive John Dasburg, also tried to acquire ABX in 2003, and the talks were revived last December before the Miami-based group last week made an unsolicited USD 7.75 a share proposal to acquire its rival, citing “unusual volume and pricing activity” in ABX stock.

ABX was asked to respond to a proposal which valued the company at USD 454 million. Its shares climbed 12 per cent in the wake of the announcement and were trading just above USD 8, fuelling speculation of a rival offer from management.

DHL said it expected no problems in securing regulatory backing for the two deals involving its suppliers.

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