ANA Drops Freighter Contract

Air Transport Services Group, still coping with the loss of major business from DHL, lost a major contract with All Nippon Airways this month and will drop four aircraft from the network it operates in the United States for BAX Global, the company said in a financial filing.

ATSG said ANA canceled the contract for outsourced operation of a 767 freighter because of the impact of the global recession on air freight demand, the Ohio-based carrier said in a 10-K filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on its 2008 financial report.

The contract with ANA has been an anchor of ATSG’s efforts to diversify its business into outsourced “ACMI” – for the aircraft, crew, maintenance and insurance the airline provides – services.

The Wilmington, Ohio-based airline also said in its financial filing that two of its subsidiaries, Capital Cargo International and Air Transport International, are dropping four of the combined 21 planes they fly for BAX because of the impact of the global economic recession. ATI will drop two of the nine DC-8 freighters it operated for BAX in 2008 and Capital Cargo will go from 12 727 freighters to 10.

ATSG and its main subsidiary, ABX Air, already lost almost all of its business with DHL, which withdrew from domestic U.S. service this year.

ABX is in talks with DHL about taking on some of the reduced sorting and handling operations since DHL has failed to reach an agreement with rival UPS. DHL says it is considering incentives to move those operations from Wilmington to Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport.