The End of an Era as ABX Air Transitions to a New Business Model
WILMINGTON, OHIO - July 24, 2009 - Thursday night, ABX Air employees sorted freight for DHL at the Wilmington Air Park for the last time.
More than 800 ABX Air employees worked their last regular shift at the air park this week. DHL announced in April that it would move its U.S. overnight international freight hub operations to the Greater Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky Airport in Hebron, Ky.
"We have known this day was coming for a while," said ABX Air President John Graber. "While this moment brings a lot of emotions, one of them is pride in the performance of our employees."
This marks the end of more than 29 years of continuous air freight service from the Wilmington Air Park. Airborne Express launched express delivery service there on April 16, 1980, after acquiring Midwest Air Charter. In August 2003, DHL acquired Airborne, creating ABX Air as a separate company. Eventually, DHL integrated its domestic sort operations with Airborne's facilities in Wilmington.
On May 28, 2008, DHL announced that it was in negotiations with UPS to handle its airlift and domestic shipping efforts. In November 2008, DHL abandoned those discussions and stated it would suspend domestic-only services.
Graber said that from the May 28 announcement, ABX Air employees have continued to provide excellent service to DHL.
"We could not have asked for better performance from our employees," he said. "They have provided over 98 percent on-time service to DHL, taking into account the factors ABX Air could control."
The last DHL air freight will leave the air park around 5:15 a.m. Friday morning aboard an ABX Air Boeing 767 freighter, heading for New York and beyond. ABX Air will continue to provide flight services to DHL at the new Cincinnati-area hub starting Friday night.
The Air Park will remain open on a limited basis. ABX Air and its parent company, Air Transport Services Group, will maintain corporate headquarters there. Airborne Maintenance and Engineering Services (AMES) will continue to service the ABX Air aircraft dedicated to DHL via its facilities at the Air Park. Discussions on a potential donation of the Air Park are underway, but not yet completed.
Some ABX Air sort employees have been offered similar positions at DHL's facilities at the Greater Cincinnati airport. Others will receive DHL-funded severance and health benefits, and will be eligible for an array of job search and retraining services provided by DHL and the State of Ohio at the onsite Transition Center.
ABX Air also has charter flights in operation around the world, with extensive charter operations in Miami, Fla., Los Angeles, South and Latin America. It has contracts with the U.S. Postal Service to operate Surface Transfer Centers (STCs) at three locations across the country. It has two state-of-the art simulators for flight crew training. ABX Air will continue to explore business growth opportunities and to provide excellent service to its customers.
ABX Air is Part 121 air cargo services provider operating out of Wilmington, Ohio, and has the largest fleet of Boeing 767-200 cargo freighters in the world. It provides charter and package handling services to a diverse group of customers. ABX Air, Inc., is a wholly owned subsidiary of Air Transport Services Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: ATSG).
Contact:
Beth Huber
ABX Air, Inc.
937-366-2536