DHL Express has commenced services for the final Boeing 777 freighter deployed at the South Asia Hub in Singapore with a payload capability of 102 tonnes.
It notes the aircraft joins the four other Boeing 777 freighters already deployed in Singapore to boost inter-continental connectivity between Asia Pacific and the Americas.
“Both Asia and the United States are major economic powerhouses with significant trade flows,” says Ken Lee, CEO for Asia Pacific, DHL Express.
“We continue to see significant demand for shipments between the two regions due to a huge volume of cross-border e-commerce and trade activities.”
Sporting a dual DHL-Singapore Airlines (SIA) livery, these five freighters provide a total of 1,224 tons of payload capacity to meet growing customer demand for international express shipping services.
Starting December 2023, three of the five Boeing 777 freighters will ply the Singapore-Bangkok/Taipei-Incheon/Nagoya-Cincinnatti-Honolulu-Sydney-Singapore route seven times a week.
The other two will cover the Singapore-Nagoya-Los Angeles-Honolulu-Singapore route five times a week. With these services, DHL Express significantly enhances its international air network capacity by taking advantage of Singapore’s strategic location and position as a key air cargo and logistics hub.
Customers looking to ship between Asia Pacific and the U.S. West Coast can expect shortened delivery times to one day for their cross-border time-sensitive shipments.
“In the last four years, shipment volume between Asia Pacific (excluding China) and the U.S. increased by more than 20 percent,” adds Ken.
“As we seek to improve trade connectivity between Asia and the United States, deploying these five freighters enables us to provide efficient and rapid logistics solutions for Asia Pacific shippers. Having Singapore Airlines as our partner to operate and maintain these aircraft also bolsters our customer service quality.”
In March 2022, DHL Express and SIA signed the Crew and Maintenance agreement, where SIA would operate and oversee the maintenance of the five Boeing 777 freighters deployed at the South Asia Hub.
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