DHL has further strengthened its intercontinental air network with the addition of a direct flight connecting the US with key growth market Australia, improving transit times by up to a day.

Launching in July 2012, the new twice-weekly flight will start at DHL's America's hub in Cincinnati and travel to Sydney, Australia's major commercial center. En route, the B747-400 freighter with a payload of up to 113 tons, will make a refueling stop in Honolulu, Hawaii, the first destination ever served by DHL Express, back in 1969.  

The connection will significantly increase DHL capacity between the Americas and Oceania, supporting volume growth from Canada and the US into Australia and New Zealand that is expected to exceed 20% in 2012. It will improve services and reliability into all East Coast destinations in Australia, particularly the key markets of Sydney, Brisbane, Canberra and Melbourne. The scheduled service will alternate between the Cincinnati-Sydney and Cincinnati-Sydney-Melbourne routes. Integrated road feeds operating from Sydney to Brisbane, Canberra and Melbourne ensure next day morning deliveries in these cities off each flight.

The freighter will return to Cincinnati via Hong Kong, further strengthening the high service performance and platform for growth that the DHL network offers for customers shipping from Asia to the Americas.

The rationale behind the new flight is both operational and economic. Aside from the benefits that the freighter, operated by DHL partner airline Polar Air Cargo Worldwide, is expected to bring in terms of transit time improvements and increased reliability, the investment will target a key trade lane for express shipments out of the US, reinforcing DHL's leading position as the international specialists. The US accounted for 12.5% of all imports into Australia in 2011, making it the second largest source of imports overall after China¹. Trade on the US-Australia lane enjoyed a year-on-year growth rate of 8% in 2011, with high value goods such as engineering equipment and vehicle parts among the top categories of imports².

Charlie Dobbie, Executive Vice President, Global Network Operations, DHL Express said, "As International Specialists, we recognize that our customers are interested above all in what a new flight means for their shipments every day. This new flight, operated with modern, environmentally-friendly freighters, will bring a number of clear benefits for customers: it will guarantee uplift on a route that is already in high demand, while reducing delivery times on shipments picked up in the US and destined for key destinations in Australia. Additionally it strengthens uplift capability on the Asia to Americas trade lanes as the flights return to the US. Perhaps most importantly, it demonstrates to our customers once again that DHL understands their business and is focused on supporting their trading activities and growth."

The latest freighter brings the total number of B747-400 aircraft operated by Polar Air Cargo Worldwide on behalf of DHL to nine.