DHL has found an even better route for meeting urgent delivery commitments in the midst of traffic gridlock: through the air. A new helicopter service now provides early morning delivery services for several major banking customers in the downtown Los Angeles area.
DHL Express introduced the helicopter service into its Los Angeles operation as a way to guarantee early morning 9:00 a.m. delivery service regardless of traffic bottlenecks. Used by specific financial services customers, this service will expand to include additional customers in the Los Angeles-area. “DHL is always looking for innovative ways to move our customers’ shipments with the greatest speed and reliability,” said Mike Parra, CEO of DHL Express U.S. “When business demands early deliveries at the ‘speed of yellow’, DHL Express brings additional assurance with a first-of-its-kind helicopter service to the L.A. market.” International shipments arrive at the DHL LAX Gateway, with specific packages transported by helicopter to a dedicated heliport in downtown Los Angeles. A DHL courier meets the helicopter and provides the final mile deliveries. The DHL helicopter, a “Twinstar” Eurocopter AS355, is operated for DHL by Helinet of Van Nuys, California and can transport up to 800 lbs of letters and packages. A DHL helicopter service is also used in New York, providing lifts from the DHL JFK gateway to prime US bank headquarters and Federal bank locations, making stops in downtown Manhattan and at New Jersey’s Teterboro Airport to speed deliveries of important financial and legal documents.