DHL’s air freight company announces a strengthening of its Boeing 777-F fleet. However, DHL Express leaves some questions unanswered.
Summer is slowly coming to an end. This also means the end of the high season for most airlines. The situation is different in the logistics industry: here the high season is still to come. It begins at the end of August and reaches its peak around Black Friday at the end of November and then in December in the run-up to Christmas.
Air freight is in demand for the rapid transport of goods between continents. In order to meet demand, DHL Express has now announced that it will invest more than 100 million euros in air freight transport and handling capacities for the season’s peak in the fourth quarter. The company is expecting global growth of 8.8 percent in e-commerce, i.e. between companies and customers, this year, as well as a gradual recovery in the movement of goods between companies.
Gradual introduction
The group has already created additional handling and sorting capacities in its ground network, including the hubs in Copenhagen, Cologne, Paris, Atlanta, Brussels and East Midlands. In addition, DHL Express will “gradually put eight new Boeing 777 freighter aircraft into operation,” the company said.
When asked, a spokesperson explained that this was not a new order, but that the jets had already been ordered in advance. “In total, DHL Express operates 44 Boeing 777s.” He did not provide any further details. When asked which flight operations the eight new freighters would be used for, the spokesperson did not respond. The statement only said that they were intended “for transpacific and intercontinental routes between Asia and Europe.”
Multiple airlines
DHL Express operates the German cargo airline Aerologic together with Lufthansa Cargo. The joint venture is based at Leipzig/Halle Airport. The cargo airline’s fleet has grown steadily in recent years. In 2021, DHL had already ordered eight more Boeing 777s for Aerologic, for delivery from 2022.
But Aerologic is not the only airline that operates Boeing 777 freighters for DHL. The English subsidiary DHL Air also has nine Triple Sevens. In total, the English cargo airline’s fleet consists of 24 aircraft.
DHL Airlines without Boeing 777
In Austria, DHL Express founded DHL Air Austria in 2021 in response to Brexit. The fleet now consists of 18 Boeing 757s and three 767-300 Fs. European Air Transport (EAT) Leipzig is another DHL airline, but it does not use Boeing 777s.
