Hi guys, I’ve been a longtime member but haven’t posted. I’ve just read and learned, and have a few reps that I’ve obtained over the past few years off of what I’ve learned here at RWI. Thanks to all you guys. Ive noticed a lot of posts recently about DHL shipping delays. I work for one of the DHL airlines as a Pilot and wanted to give a little insight at least from my perspective over the last few months.
First off DHL is not like Fedex and UPS is the sense that FDX and UPS own there own airlines. It’s there airplanes, pilots, mechanics, etc. DHL contracts there flying out to various airlines. Which is good and bad. If one airline under performs, you cut there contract and get another airline. But you have no “direct” control of the planes, pilots, mechanics. So contract negotiations, labor disputes can effect performance but overall the system actually works really well. Actually compared to FDX and UPS, if DHL owned all of the planes and airlines it contracts, it would be the biggest airline in the world.
The loads right now out almost every station is absolutely maxed out. Seeing some where between 50-60% load on a freighter was pretty normal Pre-COVID. Since then we have been maxed out at 100% of available load. Now I say available load because the longer the flight, the less payload we can take because we require more fuel. On my aircraft, the 767, even on a long flight we can generally take about 80-90% load capacity, so we aren’t too affected. But the bigger birds are flying 12-16 hour flights, which definitely require fuel over payload. HKG is crazy, as well as ICN, NRT, and CVG right now.
DHL also doesn’t care about fuel cost. We fly the DHL birds at a high cost index, which means fly faster, burn more gas, but get to the destination faster, which is what DHL cares about. The cargo literally can’t move any faster. 30 seconds after we shutdown the engines the doors are opening and cargo is flying off.
I’ve seen a post about more flights to Asia. Well, unfortunately routes to Asia are restricted buy route and landing rights. So even if DHL wanted more flights to ICN, NRT, HKG, Only a few of the contracted airlines have those route rights. Thus if those airlines are already maxed out and using every airplane available, it can’t be done. Another airline cannot use someone else’s route rights, even if the flight is contracted out to DHL.
I can’t speak for the customs side of things because that is something the flight crew is not directly involved in but I’ve seen how many pallets are waiting to go through so I can imagine how backed up it is. Try to be patient, PPE is definitely still being prioritized and planes are maxed. On the flight crew side, we are working hard to keep the cargo moving. Delays happen but that’s part of the business.
Don’t go hard on your TDs due to shipping delays. They aren’t driving the vans or flying the planes to ship your rep. I have a rep out in the DHL system right now, it’s been longer then I’ve wanted but it’s on the way. The system is maxed out, and it’s moving as safely and fast as possible right now.
Stay Safe
First off DHL is not like Fedex and UPS is the sense that FDX and UPS own there own airlines. It’s there airplanes, pilots, mechanics, etc. DHL contracts there flying out to various airlines. Which is good and bad. If one airline under performs, you cut there contract and get another airline. But you have no “direct” control of the planes, pilots, mechanics. So contract negotiations, labor disputes can effect performance but overall the system actually works really well. Actually compared to FDX and UPS, if DHL owned all of the planes and airlines it contracts, it would be the biggest airline in the world.
The loads right now out almost every station is absolutely maxed out. Seeing some where between 50-60% load on a freighter was pretty normal Pre-COVID. Since then we have been maxed out at 100% of available load. Now I say available load because the longer the flight, the less payload we can take because we require more fuel. On my aircraft, the 767, even on a long flight we can generally take about 80-90% load capacity, so we aren’t too affected. But the bigger birds are flying 12-16 hour flights, which definitely require fuel over payload. HKG is crazy, as well as ICN, NRT, and CVG right now.
DHL also doesn’t care about fuel cost. We fly the DHL birds at a high cost index, which means fly faster, burn more gas, but get to the destination faster, which is what DHL cares about. The cargo literally can’t move any faster. 30 seconds after we shutdown the engines the doors are opening and cargo is flying off.
I’ve seen a post about more flights to Asia. Well, unfortunately routes to Asia are restricted buy route and landing rights. So even if DHL wanted more flights to ICN, NRT, HKG, Only a few of the contracted airlines have those route rights. Thus if those airlines are already maxed out and using every airplane available, it can’t be done. Another airline cannot use someone else’s route rights, even if the flight is contracted out to DHL.
I can’t speak for the customs side of things because that is something the flight crew is not directly involved in but I’ve seen how many pallets are waiting to go through so I can imagine how backed up it is. Try to be patient, PPE is definitely still being prioritized and planes are maxed. On the flight crew side, we are working hard to keep the cargo moving. Delays happen but that’s part of the business.
Don’t go hard on your TDs due to shipping delays. They aren’t driving the vans or flying the planes to ship your rep. I have a rep out in the DHL system right now, it’s been longer then I’ve wanted but it’s on the way. The system is maxed out, and it’s moving as safely and fast as possible right now.
Stay Safe
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