DHL International Aviation ME (Correct name DHL Aviation EEMEA B.S.C. (C), and sometimes branded as SNAS/DHL) is a

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

Bahrain Bahrain ( ; ; ar, البحرين, al-Bahrayn, locally ), officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, ' is an island country in Western Asia. It is situated on the Persian Gulf, and comprises a small archipelago made up of 50 natural islands and an ...

. It employs 265 airline professionals to dispatch, fly and maintain a fleet of Boeing 767 freighters operating under a Bahraini AOC. Their mission is to provide safe, on time and reliable air services to their customers. DHL International is the central platform for DHL Air Network Operations in the Middle East. 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 operates the group's '' DHL''-branded parcel and express services in the Middle East and North Africa as part of DHL Aviation. Its main base is

Bahrain International Airport Bahrain International Airport ( ar, مطار البحرين الدولي, ''maṭār al-Baḥrayn al-dwalī'') is the international airport of Bahrain. Located on Muharraq Island, adjacent to the capital Manama, it serves as the hub for the nati ...

History

The airline began dedicated cargo flights between Bahrain and Riyadh in 1979 with a

Fokker F27 Friendship The Fokker F27 Friendship is a turboprop airliner developed and manufactured by the Dutch aircraft manufacturer Fokker. It is the most numerous post-war aircraft manufactured in the Netherlands; the F27 was also one of the most successful Eur ...

. In 1980, with demand for a reliable overnight service increasing, the Fairchild Metro were introduced. With its fast cruising speed of 250 knots, this aircraft proved to be ideal for this type of service and destinations soon expanded to include Dubai, Kuwait and Jeddah. In 2004, larger jet aircraft were introduced with the deployment of 6

Boeing 727 The Boeing 727 is an American narrow-body airliner that was developed and produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. After the heavy 707 quad-jet was introduced in 1958, Boeing addressed the demand for shorter flight lengths from smaller airpo ...

s. The Middle East is today connected into DHL's network via dedicated long haul flights from the US, Europe and Asia.

Destinations

Fleet

Current fleet

As of December 2022, the DHL International fleet consists of the following aircraft:

Former fleet

DHL International formerly operated the following aircraft: *

Boeing 727-200F The Boeing 727 is an American narrow-body airliner that was developed and produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. After the heavy 707 quad-jet was introduced in 1958, Boeing addressed the demand for shorter flight lengths from smaller airpo ...

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 maid ...

Boeing 757-200SF 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 maid ...

Convair CV-540 Convair, previously Consolidated Vultee, was an American aircraft manufacturing company that later expanded into rockets and spacecraft. The company was formed in 1943 by the merger of Consolidated Aircraft and Vultee Aircraft. In 1953, it ...

* Fairchild Metro 23 *

Fairchild Metro III The Fairchild Swearingen Metroliner (previously the Swearingen Metro and later Fairchild Aerospace Metro) is a 19-seat, pressurized, twin-turboprop airliner first produced by Swearingen Aircraft and later by Fairchild Aircraft at a plant in Sa ...

Accidents and incidents

2002 Überlingen mid-air collision On the night of 1 July 2002, BAL Bashkirian Airlines Flight 2937, a Tupolev Tu-154 passenger jet, and DHL International Aviation ME Flight 611, a Boeing 757 cargo jet, collided in midair over Überlingen, a southern German town on Lake Const ...

: On July 1, 2002, DHL Flight 611, a Boeing 757-200PF (registered as A9C-DHL) was flying from Bergamo, Italy, to Brussels, Belgium. The aircraft was flying over southern Germany when it collided with a

BAL Bashkirian Airlines BAL – Bashkirian Airlines (russian: «Башкирские авиалинии», ba, «БАЛ Башҡортостан авиалиниялары») was an airline with its head office on the property of Ufa International Airport in Ufa, Ru ...

Tupolev Tu-154M on a charter flight from Moscow, Russia to Barcelona, Spain, over the city of

Überlingen Überlingen is a German city on the northern shore of Lake Constance (Bodensee) in Baden-Württemberg near the border with Switzerland. After the city of Friedrichshafen, it is the second largest city in the Bodenseekreis (district), and a centr ...

near the German-Swiss border. The DHL plane’s tail slammed into the fuselage of the Tu-154. The collision killed the 2 crew members on board the Boeing 757, and all 69 passengers and crew on the Tupolev, mostly Russian schoolchildren from

Bashkortostan The Republic of Bashkortostan or Bashkortostan ( ba, Башҡортостан Республикаһы, Bashqortostan Respublikahy; russian: Республика Башкортостан, Respublika Bashkortostan),; russian: Респу́блик� ...

on a vacation, organized by the local

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

committee, to the Costa Dorada region of Spain.

References

External links

Official website of DHLFour Decades of Success: The DHL and Bahrain Airport Story
{{DHL Aviation Airlines of Bahrain Cargo airlines of Bahrain Airlines established in 1979 DHL Bahraini companies established in 1979