DHL considers replacing noisy aircraft at Riverside operation
Delivery firm DHL plans to reduce noise impacts on the local community by removing certain aircraft from its night-time operations at March Air Reserve Base in Riverside.
DHL, owned by Deutsche Post World Net based in Bonn, Germany, operates a 262,000-square-foot sorting and shipping facility at the airport. Located about 60 miles east of downtown Los Angeles, the March airfield has been home to the firm's facility for almost two years, handling more than 125,000 parcels a day shipped in and out on eight scheduled air freight flights.
Nearby residents have complained that some of DHL's planes, older DC-9s, create excessive noise during takeoffs. The residents also claim that they were misled during hearings on the proposals for the DHL facility about the actual routes that the DHL planes would take over the area.
Responding in part to this criticism, DHL is working with its contract airlift provider and officials from the air base's governing authority to replace one of the DC-9s, and potentially a second, currently in night-time operation with quieter aircraft as soon as September.
DHL said that despite the considerable cost and effort to replace the aircraft, the firm must fly at night and recognizes the concerns of the airport neighbors.