| Airline: | ASTAR Air Cargo |
| Fleet Size: | 8 |
| Destinations: | 18 |
| Iata: | ER |
| Icao: | DHL |
| Callsign: | DAHL[1] |
| Parent: | DHL (49.5%) |
| Founded: | 1969 |
| Ceased: | June 1, 2012 |
| Headquarters: | Miami, Florida, United States |
| Key People: |
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| Hubs: |
ASTAR Air Cargo Inc. was an American cargo airline based in Miami, Florida. Its main base was Cincinnati Northern Kentucky International Airport in Hebron, Kentucky, with hubs at Miami International Airport and Los Angeles International Airport.[2] It was owned by John Dasburg, Richard Blum and Michael Klein.
The airline was established and started operations in 1969. It was formed as DHL Worldwide Express by Adrian Dalsey, Larry Hillblom and Robert Lynn. The airline was spun off from DHL and a majority stake sold to a private investor in order to comply with federal foreign ownership laws. FedEx and UPS challenged the U.S. citizenship of DHL Airways, asserting to the Department of Transportation that DPWN exercised effective operational control of the airline. The airline rebranded as DHL Airways on December 22, 1981 and grew rapidly, initiating services to Asia and Australia.
In July 2003, John Dasburg completed a management buy-out of the airline and rebranded to ASTAR Air Cargo on June 30, 2003, with its two target customers remaining to be DHL and the United States Air Force. In 2007, DHL bought 49.5% of nonvoting and 24.5% of voting stock and added a member to the board of ASTAR Air Cargo.
On May 28, 2008, DHL announced the plan to terminate its business relationship with ASTAR by outsourcing the air transportation to its competitor UPS. In May 2009 DHL terminated their plan to outsource to UPS and ASTAR continued operating out of DHL's CVG facility.
The company decided to shut down its cargo operations when its contract with DHL was terminated abruptly effective on June 1, 2012. All remaining active aircraft were put in storage.
ASTAR Air Cargo operated the following freight destinations until operations were ended as of June 1, 2012:[3]
The ASTAR Air Cargo fleet consisted of the following aircraft:[4] [5]
| Aircraft | Total | Introduced | Retired | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Airbus A300B4-100F | 1 | 1999 | 1999 | Use for spare parts only |
| Airbus A300B4-200F | 7 | 1999 | 2009 | |
| Bell 206 B-2 | 1 | |||
| Bell 206 L-1 | 1 | |||
| Boeing 727-100F | 11 | 1984 | 2004 | |
| Boeing 727-200F | 14 | 1990 | 2009 | |
| Convair CV-580 | 1 | 1989 | 1990 | Leased from European Air Transport |
| Douglas DC-8-73CF | 5 | 1995 | 2012 | |
| Douglas DC-8-73F | 5 | 1993 | 2012 | |
| Learjet 35A | 1 | 1983 | 1999 | |
| Fairchild Swearingen Metroliner | 12 | 1984 | 1995 | |