DHL, Polar Add Trans-Pacific Capacity

Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings will add two 747-400 freighters to its agreement with DHL Express, sharply raising capacity on trans-Pacific routes.


The planes operated by Atlas subsidiary Polar Air Cargo will join six 747-400 all-cargo aircraft Polar already flies for DHL between Asia and North America, allowing new departure points out of North Asia, an Atlas spokesman said Monday.


Polar will sell space DHL does not use for its express shipments on the aircraft to freight forwarders, said Atlas spokesman Dan Loh.


The agreement gives Atlas new business momentum following one of the strongest financial years in its recent history. The freighter operator more than doubled its net profit in the first nine months of 2010 over the same period the year before to $100.3 million and the strong recovery in the air cargo industry pushed revenue up by a third, to $740 million.


DHL will gain new capacity in Asia’s rapidly growing export markets.


“This placement reflects the continuing growth of DHL’s global express business and our proven ability to support customer growth initiatives by delivering global operating scale and consistent service excellence,” said AAWH President and CEO William J. Flynn.


DHL holds a 49 percent stake in Polar, Atlas’ scheduled freighter operating unit.
(Source:http://www.joc.com)