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| Founded | 1969 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ceased operations | June 1, 2012 | ||||||
| Hubs | Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport | ||||||
| Fleet size | 8 | ||||||
| Destinations | 18 | ||||||
| Headquarters | Miami, Florida, United States | ||||||
| Key people |
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| Website | www | ||||||
ASTAR Air Cargo was an American cargo airline based in Miami, Florida, USA. Its main base was Cincinnati Northern Kentucky International Airport in Hebron, Kentucky, with hubs at Miami International Airport and Los Angeles International Airport. [2]
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.
Its two target customers continued to be DHL Worldwide Express and the United States Air Force. In 2007 DHL Express bought 49.5% of nonvoting and 24.5% of voting stock and added a member to the board of ASTAR Air Cargo.
ASTAR was owned by John Dasburg, Richard Blum and Michael Klein.
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, its largest customer, was terminated abruptly effective 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]
Canada 
Mexico 
United States 
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 | Unknown | Unknown | |
| Bell 206 L-1 | 1 | Unknown | Unknown | |
| 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 | |
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