DHL Express and Singapore Airlines welcomed the final Boeing 777 freighter as part of a 5-aircraft deal signed in 2022 that will add further add capacity between Asia Pacific and the Americas via the DHL South Asia Hub in Singapore.
The aircraft, sporting a dual DHL-SIA livery, joins four other B777F, providing 1,224 tonnes of payload capacity to accomodate international express shipments on the US-Asia route.
As early as December 2023, three of the five freighters were operated on the Singapore-Bangkok/Taipei-Incheon/Nagoya-Cincinnatti-Honolulu-Sydney-Singapore route seven times a week. The other two cover the Singapore-Nagoya-Los Angeles-Honolulu-Singapore route five times a week.
DHL is capitalising on Singapore’s main hub status and location to cut the delivery times between Asia Pacific and the US West Coast to one day for time-sensitive shipments.
In March 2022, DHL Express and SIA signed the crew and maintenance agreement, where the airline would operate and oversee the maintenance of the five Boeing 777 freighters deployed at the South Asia Hub. These five freighters are part of the express operators’ 28-unit order of the type since the first purchase was made in 2018. The first freighter as part of the deal saw its debut in August 2022.