Astar Air Cargo

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]

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%). It has 1,037 employees.^[1]

Destinations

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

• Domestic scheduled destinations: Allentown, Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, El Paso, Fort Lauderdale, Greensboro, North Carolina, Houston Kansas City, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Manchester, Memphis, Miami, Milwaukee, Minneapolis/St Paul, Nashville, New Orleans, New York, Newark, Norfolk, Philadelphia, Providence, Rochester, Salt Lake City, St. Louis, San Antonio, Tampa, Wilmington, Ohio
• International scheduled destinations: Bahrain, Guadalajara, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Keflavik, Iceland, Mexico City, Rota, Spain, Sigonella, Italy, Saltillo, and Toronto,

Fleet

The ASTAR Air Cargo fleet consists of the following aircraft as of March 2007:

References

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

External links

• Astar Air Cargo
• ASTAR MEC ALPA Website