DHL Air UK, incorporated as DHL Air Ltd., is a British

cargo airline Cargo airlines (or air freight carriers, and derivatives of these names) are airlines mainly dedicated to the transport of air cargo, cargo by air. Some cargo airlines are divisions or subsidiaries of larger passenger airlines. In 2018, airline ...

based in Orbital Park,

Hounslow Hounslow () is a large suburban district of West London, west-southwest of Charing Cross. It is the administrative centre of the London Borough of Hounslow, and is identified in the London Plan as one of the 12 metropolitan centres in ...

London Borough of Hounslow The London Borough of Hounslow () is a London borough in West London, England, forming part of Outer London. It was created in 1965 when three smaller borough councils (forming part of the former Middlesex County Council area) amalgamated under ...

. It is wholly owned by

Deutsche Post The Deutsche Post AG, operating under the trade name Deutsche Post DHL Group, is a German multinational package delivery and supply chain management company headquartered in Bonn, Germany. It is one of the world's largest courier companies ...

and provides services on the group's

DHL DHL is an American founded, German logistics company providing courier, package delivery and express mail service, which is a division of the German logistics firm Deutsche Post. The company group delivers over 1.8 billion parcels per year. ...

-branded parcel and express network in Europe. Its main base is

East Midlands Airport East Midlands Airport is an international airport in the East Midlands of England, close to Castle Donington in northwestern Leicestershire, between Loughborough (), Derby () and Nottingham (); Leicester is () to the south and Lincoln () ...

. It forms a part of the greater

DHL Aviation DHL Aviation is a division of DHL (owned by Deutsche Post) responsible for providing air transport capacity. It is not a single airline but a group of airlines that are either owned, co-owned or chartered by DHL Express. Overview DHL currently ...

division.

History

The company was formed as Elan Air on October 11, 1982, and commenced operations on November 8, 1983. Elan Air operated night freight charters for DHL using the

Armstrong Whitworth Argosy The Armstrong Whitworth Argosy was a three-engine biplane airliner designed and produced by the British aircraft manufacturer Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft. It was the company's first airliner. The Argosy was developed during the early-to-mid ...

and

Handley Page Dart Herald The Handley Page Dart Herald is a 1950s British turboprop passenger aircraft. Design and development In the mid-1950s Handley Page developed a new fast short-range regional airliner, intended to replace the older Douglas DC-3, particularly in ...

. The airline then acquired a Merchantman freighter version of the

Vickers Vanguard The Vickers Vanguard was a short/medium-range turboprop airliner designed and produced by the British aircraft manufacturer Vickers-Armstrongs. The Vanguard was developed during the mid-to-late 1950s in response to a specification issued by ...

and later the airline's name changed to ''DHL Air'' on May 16, 1989. DHL Air has held a

United Kingdom Civil Aviation Authority The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) is the statutory corporation which oversees and regulates all aspects of civil aviation in the United Kingdom. Its areas of responsibility include: * Supervising the issuing of pilots' licences, testing of e ...

Type A air operator certificate since November 30, 2001 to transport passengers, cargo and mail on aircraft with a capacity of 20 or more seats. After receiving the license, flight operations began in December 2001. The airline has 270 employees as of March 2007. Its main office is located at EMA Cargo West in the main DHL building at

Fleet

Current fleet

The DHL Air fleet consists of the following aircraft (as of December 2022):

Former fleet

DHL Air, G-DHKB, Boeing 757-256(PCF) (49588755248)

The airline formerly operated the following aircraft:

Accidents and incidents

*On 13 February 2021, a

Boeing 757-200PCF The Boeing 757 is an American narrow-body airliner designed and built by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. The then-named 7N7, a twinjet successor for the 727 (a trijet), received its first orders in August 1978. The prototype completed its maide ...

(registered G-DHKZ) returned to land at

Leipzig/Halle Airport Leipzig/Halle Airport (German: ''Flughafen Leipzig/Halle'') is an international airport located in Schkeuditz, Saxony, Germany and serves both Leipzig, Saxony, and Halle, Saxony-Anhalt. It is Germany's 14th largest airport by passengers and ...

after its cargo door opened in-flight shortly after departure.

References

External links

Official website of DHL
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dhl Air Uk Airlines established in 1982 British companies established in 1982 British Air Transport Association Cargo airlines of the United Kingdom DHL 1982 establishments in England Companies based in the London Borough of Hounslow