DHL Air UK, incorporated as DHL Air Ltd., is a cargo airline based in Orbital Park, Hounslow, London Borough of Hounslow. It is wholly owned by Deutsche Post DHL and provides services on the group's DHL-branded parcel and express network in Europe. Its main base is East Midlands Airport.
The company was formed as Elan Air in October 1982 and became DHL Air in August 1989. Elan Air operated night freight charters for DHL using the Armstrong Whitworth Argosy and Handley Page Dart Herald. Later the airline acquired Merchantman freighter versions of the Vickers Vanguard and was operating three when it became DHL Air in 1989 as subsidiary of DHL Aviation from Deutsche Post DHL.
Major competitors include TNT and UPS (United Parcel Service).
Livery
Boeing 757-236(SF), registration G-BIKA, built 1982, serial number 22172 Cointrin (GVA), Geneva, Switzerland, 25 July 2016
Airbus A330-322(P2F), registration EI-HEB, built 1996, serial number 0127 Schiphol (AMS/EHAM), Amsterdam, the Netherlands, 30 September 2022
Hair Force One tail
In an advertising campaign for the British Grand Tour TV show, DHL dedicated three planes to the motor journalists and TV hosts of Top Gear on BBC: Richard Hammond, James May, and Jeremy Clarkson.
Fans named the planes in honor of the hosts and the James May plane is (probably) called after the 80s metal group Hair Force One.
Boeing 757-28A(PCF), registration G-DHKK, built 2001, serial number 32449 Cointrin (GVA), Geneva, Switzerland, 21 February 2018
