DHL expands air network in Mexico

DHL expands air network in Mexico    Express delivery and logistics company DHL on Friday unveiled its new Mexican air network, which is scheduled to begin operations this week and includes six new daily domestic flights featuring new generation aircraft and serving Mexico’s largest cities.
   DHL is expected to invest more than $21 million in the network by 2007, the company said in a statement.
   The new network will add Hermosillo, Ciudad Obregon, Ciudad de M'xico, Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, Monterrey, Villahermosa, San Luis Potos', Mazatlan, La Paz, and Guadalajara.
   “This investment in DHL’s air network will improve the coverage of our network, improve our capacity in daily package handling, and improve transit times for customer shipments,” Erika Quezada, director of operational planning for DHL Mexico, said in a statement. “The new flights represent a significant improvement in DHL service levels as we will now be able to reach 98 percent of the Mexican population within 24 hours.”
   DHL Mexico will now fly an average of 1.9 million miles each year, the equivalent of 6,200 flight hours, and will increase its air cargo capacity by 40 percent to more than 10.5 million pounds annually.
   DHL’s new Mexico domestic flights will be operated by a number of contracted, new generation aircraft, which feature larger, independent cargo loading doors, large cargo hold areas, cargo netting, and ground rollers for easy manipulation of cargo containers within the aircraft, allowing the introduction of larger and heavier-weight shipments onto the aircraft.