DHL Express has officially inaugurated its first Airbus A300-600 freight aircraft dedicated to servicing the Visayas and Mindanao regions in the Philippines.
The inbound aircraft traverses the Hong Kong-Manila-Cebu route which arrived two hours earlier than commercial flights used previously, allowing urgent delivery of parcels to their recipients.
Meanwhile, it’s outbound aircraft departs in the evening, provides overnight connections to key Asian countries, and next-day delivery to other parts of the globe.
The aircraft, which is co-owned by Air Hong Kong Limited and Cathay Pacific, carries a maximum of 54 tons of cargo.
Aside from that, it is also one of eight cargo planes bought by DHL from Air Hong Kong and leased back to the carrier as part of their 15-year agreement — a move to support DHL’s rapid growth in the Asia Pacific region.
Nurhayati Abdullah, DHL Express country manager, said that through their new cargo aircraft, DHL could service more customers in key VisMin areas and those at MEPZ (Mactan Export Processing Zone), which comprises 60 percent of their customers in Cebu.
E-commerce
With the growth and demand for delivery in e-commerce and online businesses, DHL has also been steadfast in its growth as a company.
In fact, apart from handling parcels or cargoes of large enterprises, DHL also caters and support the small and medium enterprise sector.
“With the growth of the e-commerce, we give better access to buyers and sellers in the country especially in Cebu since we see potential growth here,” said Abdullah.
And supporting the growth of the online business, DHL provides seminars and online courses that provide trends in the market and share tips on local and international delivery.
Abdullah said that they would provide webinars on which items would be fit for international delivery and also provide how to further grow their business.
“Not only do we provide them deliver access, but we also support the growth of their business by providing them tools and inputs,” she added.
DHL EXPRESS DEDICATED CEBU-AIRCRAFT with Marfa Matalang, Cebu branch manager; Nurhayati Abdullah, country manager; and Promod George, head-of-operations.
Advantage
With the onset of their first dedicated aircraft to Cebu, the additional capacity will cater to growth in demand and peak season volumes.
DHL’s new cargo service will provide minimal cancellation of flights compared to using commercial flights especially with the Christmas season drawing near.
“With peak season coming, items subject to cancellation of delivers are common since commercial flights prioritize passenger cargos,” said Promod George, head of operations.
Through their dedicated aircraft, cancellations are minimized and support a greater number of items and commodities carried through the air.
“Commercial flights usually restrict lithium batteries, but with our dedicated aircraft, we have limited restriction on items and commodities,” added George./dbs