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Airborne Express was an express delivery company and
cargo airline Cargo airlines (or air freight carriers, and derivatives of these names) are airlines mainly dedicated to the transport of air cargo, cargo by air. Some cargo airlines are divisions or subsidiaries of larger passenger airlines. In 2018, airli ...
. Headquartered in
Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is the List of municipalities in Washington, most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the List of Unit ...
, its hub was in
Wilmington, Ohio Wilmington is a city in Clinton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. The population was 12,664 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is the principal city of the Micropolitan statistical area, Wilmington micropolitan area ...
. Airborne was founded as the Airborne Flower Traffic Association of California in 1946 to fly flowers from
Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...
to the US mainland. Airborne Express was acquired by
DHL DHL (originally named after founders Dalsey, Hillblom and Lynn) is a multinational Import-Export Expert Company, founded in the United States and headquartered in Bonn, Germany. It provides courier, package delivery, and express mail service, ...
in 2003. Prior to the acquisition, it rose to be the third largest private express delivery company in the United States, behind
Federal Express FedEx Corporation, originally known as Federal Express Corporation, is an American multinational conglomerate holding company specializing in transportation, e-commerce, and business services. The company is headquartered in Memphis, Tenness ...
(
FedEx Express FedEx Express is a major American cargo airline based in Memphis, Tennessee, United States. As of 2023, it is the world's List of largest airlines, largest cargo airline in terms of fleet size and freight tons flown. It is the namesake and leadi ...
) and
United Parcel Service United Parcel Service, Inc. (UPS) is an American multinational corporation, multinational package delivery, shipping & receiving and supply chain management company founded in 1907. Originally known as the American Messenger Company specializi ...
(UPS).


History

Growth during Airborne's first 22 years was slow, but in 1968, the airline known as Airbourne Freight Company, started going through some changes. The company Air Cargo Equipment Corporation developed and patented a special narrow container, known in the industry later as the "C" container (referring to its C shape), which allowed the more efficient use of space within large jet aircraft. The containers also eliminated the need to modify the cargo doors, thus saving any air-freight company that used them substantial sums of money. It does appear that around this time, early on, that Airborne began using the more efficient containers. Known at that time as Airborne of California, the company merged with Pacific Air Freight of
Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...
. The newly formed airline moved its headquarters north to Seattle and changed its name to Airborne Freight Corporation. This was the name they kept until 1980.


Growth from 1980 to 2003

* 1980: The airline changed its name to Airborne Express Inc. after buying Midwest Air Charter. Airborne Express made history by buying the
Clinton County Air Force Base Wilmington Air Park, effective 2009-08-27. is a public-use airport located two nautical miles (3.7 km) southeast of the central business district of Wilmington, a city in Clinton County, Ohio, United States. While DHL had privately owned ...
in Wilmington, and became the first airline in history to own and operate an airport. A number of
NAMC YS-11 The NAMC YS-11 is a turboprop airliner designed and built by the Nihon Aircraft Manufacturing Corporation (NAMC), a Japanese consortium. It was the only post-war airliner to be wholly designed and manufactured in Japan until the development of t ...
twin-engined turboprop freight conversions were also purchased. From that point on, Wilmington, Ohio became the company's main freight-sorting hub. * 1988: Airborne started offering same day delivery after buying Sky Courier (now DHL SameDay) as well as forming contracts with other private logistical contractors, in every city where they operated an office. The vehicles (mostly vans), and the drivers employed by these contracted companies, were all outfitted with the colors and uniforms of the rapidly recognizable Airborne colors: gray, red and black. Around this time, Airborne Express offered a less expensive second-day package service, which was modeled after Federal Express' second-day, or "P2" (priority two) parcel service. * 1989: Airborne Express changes its name to ABX Air. * 1991: Airborne received awards from three major companies, including
Volvo The Volvo Group (; legally Aktiebolaget Volvo, shortened to AB Volvo, stylized as VOLVO) is a Swedish multinational manufacturing corporation headquartered in Gothenburg. While its core activity is the production, distribution and sale of truck ...
, and in 1992, the airline introduced Flight-Ready SM, a prepaid express letters and Express Pack system. * 1993: Airborne introduced the Airborne Logistics System (ALS), which provided Airborne with warehousing and distribution services. * 1994: Airborne opened the Ocean Services Division, and along with ALS, helped establish the first new film distribution program for
Technicolor Technicolor is a family of Color motion picture film, color motion picture processes. The first version, Process 1, was introduced in 1916, and improved versions followed over several decades. Definitive Technicolor movies using three black-and ...
labs since 1944. In addition, relations were established with
Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...
. * 1995: Airborne opened a second runway at Wilmington, and
Boeing 767 The Boeing 767 is an American wide-body airliner developed and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. The aircraft was launched as the 7X7 program on July 14, 1978, the prototype first flew on September 26, 1981, and it was certified ...
jets were added to the fleet. The Airborne Alliance Group took care of many departments of the company. * 1996: Airborne's stock tripled, which would later lead to a two-for-one stock split in February 1998. Formed that year was Airborne Brokerage Services. * 1998: Airborne entered the
Fortune 500 The ''Fortune'' 500 is an annual list compiled and published by ''Fortune (magazine), Fortune'' magazine that ranks 500 of the largest United States Joint-stock company#Closely held corporations and publicly traded corporations, corporations by ...
list for the first time. Airborne's first of 30 total Boeing 767s arrived at Wilmington, and the airline won an award from
The Business Consumer Guide ''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The ...
. * 1999: Airborne@Home, an alliance with the
United States Postal Service The United States Postal Service (USPS), also known as the Post Office, U.S. Mail, or simply the Postal Service, is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the executive branch of the federal governmen ...
, was formed. * 2000:
Carl Donaway Carl may refer to: *Carl, Georgia, city in USA *Carl, West Virginia, an unincorporated community *Carl (name), includes info about the name, variations of the name, and a list of people with the name *Carl², a TV series * "Carl", an episode of tel ...
became the company's new president, which led to many managerial changes. Also that year, Airborne started a ground service for the first time in its history. * 2001: Airborne Express launched Ground Delivery Service and 10:30 AM Delivery Service. Airborne.com launched some services of its own, including the Small Business Center and Airborne eCourier. * August 14, 2003: Airborne shareholders approved the acquisition of Airborne Inc. by
DHL DHL (originally named after founders Dalsey, Hillblom and Lynn) is a multinational Import-Export Expert Company, founded in the United States and headquartered in Bonn, Germany. It provides courier, package delivery, and express mail service, ...
of
Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...
,
Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...
. DHL is 100% owned by
Deutsche Post (, ) is a brand of the DHL Group (listed as ), used for its domestic mail services in Germany. The services offered under the brand are those of a traditional mail service, making the brand the successor of the former state-owned mail monopoly ...
World Net. The acquisition became effective the next day. DHL retained ownership of Airborne's ground operations and spun off its air operations as
ABX Air ABX Air, Inc., formerly Airborne Express, is a cargo airline headquartered at Wilmington Air Park near the City of Wilmington, Ohio, US. ABX Air operates scheduled, ad hoc charter and ACMI (Aircraft, Crew, Maintenance and Insurance) freight se ...
, Inc.


Incidents and accidents

Airborne Express has experienced seven accidents, with six of them being hull losses, and two resulting in fatalities. * On June 11, 1979, a
de Havilland Dove The de Havilland DH.104 Dove is a British short-haul airliner developed and manufactured by de Havilland. The design, which was a monoplane successor to the pre-war Dragon Rapide biplane, came about from the Brabazon Committee report which, a ...
operated by Midwest Air Charter on behalf of Airborne Express made a belly landing at
St. Louis Lambert International Airport St. Louis Lambert International Airport is the primary international airport serving metropolitan St. Louis, Missouri, United States. Commonly referred to as Lambert Field or simply Lambert, it is the largest and busiest airport in the st ...
. Both crew members survived, but the aircraft was damaged beyond repair and written off. * On June 19, 1980, a Sud Aviation Caravelle VI-R made a hard landing at Atlanta Municipal Airport (now
Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport is the primary international airport serving Atlanta and its Metro Atlanta, surrounding metropolitan area, in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is located south of the Down ...
), causing its left main landing gear to collapse. The aircraft was caught in wake turbulence from a
Lockheed L-1011 TriStar The Lockheed L-1011 TriStar (pronounced "El-ten-eleven") is an American medium-to-long-range, wide-body trijet airliner built by the Lockheed Corporation. It was the third wide-body airliner to enter commercial operations, after the Boeing 747 ...
. The four occupants (three crew members and one passenger) on board survived. The aircraft was damaged beyond repair and written off. * On February 5, 1985, a McDonnell Douglas DC-9-15 crashed after takeoff from
Philadelphia International Airport Philadelphia International Airport is the primary international airport serving Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. It served 30.8 million passengers annually in 2024, making it the busiest airport in Pennsylvania and the 21st-busies ...
. Both pilots on board survived, but the aircraft was substantially damaged and written off. * On August 20, 1987, Airborne Express Flight 124, a McDonnell Douglas DC-9-31, was back taxiing on Runway 09/27 at
Stewart International Airport New York Stewart International Airport – colloquially known as Stewart International Airport, is a public/military airport in Orange County, New York, United States. It is in the southern Hudson Valley, west of Newburgh, south of Kingston ...
during deteriorating weather conditions, when an
Emery Worldwide Emery Worldwide was an American air freight forwarder and air cargo carrier founded in 1946. Emery was a pioneer in the early air freight industry, initially renting space on existing carrier routes before developing a fleet of dedicated aircraft ...
(operating as Rosenbalm Aviation Flight 074) Douglas DC-8-63F, landed on the same runway without clearance, The DC-9's tail was struck by the DC-8's wing. There were no fatalities and both aircraft were repaired and returned to service. * On January 29, 1990, a
Cessna 208 Caravan The Cessna 208 Caravan is a utility aircraft produced by Cessna. The project was commenced on November 20, 1981, and the prototype first flew on December 9, 1982. The production model was certified by the FAA in October 1984 and its Cargoma ...
crashed after takeoff from
Burlington International Airport Patrick Leahy Burlington International Airport is a joint-use civil-military airport serving Burlington, Vermont's most populous city, and its metropolitan area. Owned by the City of Burlington, the airport itself is located in neighboring ...
. The pilot and the passenger, the aircraft's only occupants, were both killed. This was the first fatal accident for Airborne Express. The accident was caused by the overloading of the aircraft and pilot error due to the aircraft not being de-iced before departure. * On March 6, 1992, a NAMC YS-11A operating a training flight was damaged beyond repair and written off when it made a belly landing at the Wilmington-Airborne Airpark after the crew accidentally forgot to lower the landing gear. All three crew members on board survived. * On December 22, 1996, Flight 827, a Douglas DC-8-63F, crashed in
Narrows, Virginia Narrows, named for the narrowing of the New River that flows through the town, is a town in Giles County, Virginia, United States. The population was 2,029 at the 2010 census, a decline of 3.9% from the 2000 count of 2,111. It is part of the Bl ...
while performing a flight test. All six people on board were killed. This is the airline's deadliest accident.


See also

*
List of defunct airlines of the United States The following is a list of defunct airlines of the United States. However, some of these airlines have ceased operations completely, changed identities and/or FAA certificates and are still operating under a different name (e.g. America West Ai ...
*
ABX Air ABX Air, Inc., formerly Airborne Express, is a cargo airline headquartered at Wilmington Air Park near the City of Wilmington, Ohio, US. ABX Air operates scheduled, ad hoc charter and ACMI (Aircraft, Crew, Maintenance and Insurance) freight se ...


References

{{Authority control DHL Defunct cargo airlines Airlines established in 1980 Airlines disestablished in 2003 Defunct airlines of the United States Defunct companies based in Seattle Transportation companies of the United States Cargo airlines of the United States 1946 establishments in the United States Airlines based in Washington (state)