Astar Air Cargo

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ASTAR Air Cargo
IATA
ER
ICAO
DHL
Callsign
DAHL
Founded 1969
Hubs Wilmington International Airport
Fleet size 45
Destinations
Headquarters Miami, Florida, USA
Key people
Website: http://www.astaraircargo.us/

ASTAR Air Cargo is an American cargo airline based in Miami, Florida, USA. It operates regularly secheduled cargo charter services to over 34 US airports and nine international airports, as well as worldwide charter freight services. It provides air freight services to six domestic and foreign locations for the United States Department of Defense. Its main base is DHL Airpark in Wilmington, OH, with hubs at Miami International Airport, Los Angeles International Airport and Newark Liberty International Airport.[1]

Contents

[edit] History

The airline was established and started operations in 1969. It was formed as DHL Worldwide Express by Adrian Dalsey, Larry Hillblom and Robert Lynn to shuttle bills of lading between Hawaii and San Francisco. It rebranded as DHL Airways in 1983 and grew rapidly, initiating services to the Philippines, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore and Australia, creating a new industry of door-to-door express services in the Pacific Basin and later worldwide. Lufthansa and Japan Airlines each acquired a 5% stake, increased to 25% each in 1992. Deutsche Post acquired a 22.5% stake in 1998, gradually increasing it to 100% in 2001-2002.[1] The airline was spun off from DHL and a majority stake sold to a private investor in order to comply with Federal foreign ownership laws. FedEx and UPS challenged the U.S. citizenship of DHL Airways, asserting to the Department of Transportation that DPWN exercised effective operational control of the airline.

In July 2003, a US investment group headed by John Dasburg (now Chairman, Chief Executive and President of the airline), completed a management buy-out of the airline using financing provided by Boeing Capital and subsequently changed the name to ASTAR Air Cargo on 30 June 2003. Its two target customers continue to be DHL Worldwide Express and the United States Air Force. The airline is owned by John Dasburg (37%), Richard Blum (33%) and Michael Klein (30%).In 2007 dhl worldwide bought 25% nonvoting and 49% voting stock of astar air cargo and is now also a part owner. It has 1,037 employees.[1]

[edit] Destinations

ASTAR Air Cargo operates the following freight destinations as of July 2007:[2]

[edit] Fleet

The ASTAR Air Cargo fleet consists of the following aircraft as of March 2007:[citation needed]

ASTAR Air Cargo Fleet
Aircraft Total Notes
Airbus A300B4 Freighter 6
Boeing 727-200F 29
Douglas DC-8-73CF 3
Douglas DC-8-73F 5
Bell 206 L-1 1

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c "Directory: World Airlines", Flight International, 2007-03-27, p. 78. 
  2. ^ ASTAR Freight Service

[edit] External links

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