DHL Express last week made two unusual additions to its roster of contract carriers that bring with them extra aircraft to help the parcel carrier meet escalating growth in e-commerce shipments.
The express delivery arm of postal and logistics giant Deutsche Post DHL Group (DIX: DPW) arranged for German leisure airline Condor and a start-up cargo division of Latvian carrier SmartLynx to fly packages in its European air network.
The first cargo flights under the Condor partnership began last week. Condor, a charter carrier for tourists, will operate four of its Boeing 767 medium-size jets for DHL until the end of May. The Condor planes will be based at DHL Express’ largest European hub in Leipzig, Germany and cover three routes - to Shannon, Ireland; Milan-Malpensa, Italy; and Cologne, Germany. DHL suggested the initial contract could be extended.
It’s the latest example of smaller passenger airlines diversifying business amid a severe downturn in travel demand and establishing full cargo divisions for the first time. The Condor deal resembles what DHL has done in the U.S. where regional carrier Mesa Air Group in October began flying converted Boeing 737-400s, an aircraft it never operated before, on DHL’s behalf.
Air Belgium is scheduled to begin operating four Airbus A-330 owned by ocean carrier CMA CGM - taking the concept of diversification to another level. And U.S. low-cost travel airline Sun Country last year began operating 737-800 freighters for Amazon Air.
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