DHL, any word?

[otis]

Any word of future hiring at DHL?

otis

 

[GoABX]

I doubt DHL will be hiring any time soon.

They are EXTREMELY over-staffed. They have a shade under 500 pilots to man just 35 planes. This is due to a no-furlough clause.

As you have probably heard DHL bought Airborne's ground operation and the Airborne Express airline will be spun off and will contract out to DHL. We have 800 pilots for 115 aircraft and still have 30 out of the original 42 on furlough.

Eventually merging the two airlines makes sense. Even though ABX is thin on pilots, there still probably won't be any hiring from either side in the short term. . .due to DHL being so fat and nearly 100% overlap in destination cities.

If DHL is serious about gaining marketshare and going head to head with FeD-UPS and they commit appropriately to marketing, then perhaps we will hire in 1-3 years.

For the ABX and DHL pilots this could mean hitting the lottery or being out of work. DOT or DOJ could kill the deal or the combined airline might double in size in the next 5 years.

When you hear the last of the furloughed Airborne guys is recalled, start sending in the resumes.

 

[AV8OR]

Uh, if FedEx, UPS, and Rep Ted Stevens from AK have there way there won't even be a DHL Airways in a year much less any hiring. What they couldn't do legally with the DOT, twice, they decided they would do politically with the War Approp. Bill.

Here ya go. Ya can read all about it. We're so screwed.


Judge deals blow to DHL Airways
by Jaret Seiberg in Washington
Updated 05:24 PM EST, Apr-29-2003

An administrative law court made two preliminary decisions Tuesday, April 29, that suggest DHL Airways Inc. will have a difficult time retaining its license to operate an airline in the U.S.
Chief Administrative Law Judge Ronnie Yoder said DHL Airways has the burden of proving that it complies with a federal law that bars non-U.S. citizens from owning or controlling U.S. carriers. He also indicated that a citizenship test for the military airlift program may apply to the DHL Airways dispute.

Though not fatal to DHL Airways' case, the airline is starting from a very weak position and its prospects for success are uncertain, said several lawyers in the courtroom.

The case could have broad ramifications for Deutsche Post World Net AG and its DHL operation. The German company is trying to expand its U.S. presence, agreeing in March to acquire Airborne Inc. for $1.05 billion. An adverse decision could imperil those expansion plans by making it harder for the delivery company to fly packages across the country.

Yoder has the case because Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, recently attached an amendment to the law funding the war in Iraq, which forced the Department of Transportation to send the DHL Airways ownership dispute to a law judge for resolution.

Federal law bars a non-U.S. citizen from owning more than 25% of the voting stock or 50% of the equity in a domestic carrier. DOT also has said that foreigners may not exert "actual control" over a domestic carrier.

FedEx Corp. and United Parcel Services Inc. contend Deutsche Post has such extensive contractual ties with DHL Airways that it violates the "control" prohibition even if it technically complies with the equity and voting stock caps. DHL Airways has countered that the relationship is appropriate and that the DOT previously approved it.

A chief purpose to Tuesday's hearing was to determine which party had the burden of proof and to establish a schedule. On the burden of proof issue, DHL Airways had sought to shift it to FedEx and United Parcel Service because these companies initiated the original challenge. Yet the rivals argued that the law requires DHL to continually prove its compliance with the citizenship test.

Yoder sided with UPS and FedEx, saying the DOT ordered him to conduct a de novo review, as if DHL Airways is trying for the first time to prove it is a U.S. citizen.

"At the end of the day there will be only one question: Did you establish beyond a preponderance of the evidence to my satisfaction that DHL Airways is a U.S. citizen," Yoder said at a three-hour preliminary hearing at DOT headquarters in Washington.

The judge also asked questions about the citizenship test for the military airlift program. That test excludes from the program any carrier that received at least half of its revenue during the proceeding three years from a foreigner.

DHL Airways has argued the military airlift test, which was included in the Stevens amendment to the Iraq bill, is irrelevant because it pertains to a different law than is implicated in this case. FedEx and UPS counter that the military airlift test expresses how Congress intends for citizenship tests to be conducted.

Yoder pressed DHL Airways on whether it complies with the airlift test. Company officials initially said they were in compliance with the cap based on average foreign revenue for the last three years. They later acknowledged that in 2002 the airline received 90% of its revenue from DHL, which is a foreign citizen.

The judge also said that he may limit information requests from the parties to records that are no more than three years old, which he noted is the period specified in the airlift amendment.

Yoder set an aggressive schedule to meet a DOT requirement that he rule by Sept. 2. An eight-day hearing would occur in July, with the final round of briefs due Aug. 1. Yet the judge also said he was inclined to ask the DOT for more time if the parties consented.

A schedule calling for a decision by Dec. 23 would push back the hearing by three months, giving the parties more time to conduct discovery. He noted that the average length of discovery in a citizenship case is three years. The Dec. 23 plan would provide about three months.

"We are playing catch-up here," Yoder said.

The parties are expected by the close of business today to submit a joint proposed schedule that is expected to call for a decision by Dec. 23.

Yoder said he would then incorporate that request into a pre-hearing report to the DOT, which ultimately must approve an extension.