By Manik Mehta, Bonn The two express giants, FedEx and DHL, are going to be locked in fierce competition in the battleground of Europe where both players have ironed out ambitious expansion plans and where, as German industry experts are saying, neither is willing to relent “an inch” of their territory in the fight for greater market share. The unleashing of competition between the two express carriers has brought cheer to many in Germany, including politicians, airport operators and trade unions who feel that competition between the two will be good for the overall economy which will get the badly needed financial shot in the arm. FedEx made its point by recently by announcing that it was expanding its operations in Europe by launching five flights a week between the Cologne/Bonn airport, Germany’s second largest cargo airport after Frankfurt, and its US hub in Memphis. The Cologne/Bonn airport is one of the four European airports from where FedEx will be operating a trans-Atlantic flight. Referring to the introduction of the FedEx flights from the Cologne/Bonn airport, an elated Michael Garvens, the airport’s chairman, welcomed “one of the world’s most reputed concerns” as the airport’s new customer. What has, however, appealed to the airport management is the fact that FedEx will operate its flights during the day and refrain from nocturnal operations which could have been a source of friction with the ecologically sensitive local population. “These flights will be operated exclusively during the day time, signaling that the number of starts and landings at night time will not be further increased,” Garvens said. The FedEx flights from Cologne/Bonn, to be launched in March 2005, will be carried out with the deployment of a MD-11 freighter, which is regarded as one of the largest available cargo aircraft. FedEx sources in Germany say that the launching of the five weekly flights will increase the carrier’s trans-Atlantic capacity by 20%. Walter Roemer, the Cologne/Bonn airport spokesman, told the American Journal of Transportation that the airport company is setting up a sorting and storage hall with an attached office premises for the new customer. Roemer said that this will entail an investment of 1.4 million euro. Antje Schutt-Fahrenkrog, FedEx’s Germany based vice president (Central and Eastern Europe), has been recently telling journalists that FedEx has plans for further expansion of its European operations within the next twelve months. The steps being taken by FedEx to enhance its European operations include, aside from the introduction of five weekly flights from Cologne/Bonn airport, seven inter-European flights and the opening of new stations in Germany, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, Spain and in Eastern Europe. The present investments in the European network were part of FedEx’s expansion strategy, aimed at making the carrier the number one provider for international express services in Europe. According to FedEx, the Cologne/Bonn-Memphis service will further strengthen FedEx’s leading market position for so-called in-time express delivery service to the United States. The new freighter service will also enable FedEx to connect additional European cities with the United States under its so-called “next day” service program and improve delivery time in the already existing service regions. Customers in Western Germany, for example, will benefit by up to three hours in delivery time. Schutt-Fahrenkrog has been saying the Cologne/Bonn freighter service to Memphis would also complement the carrier’s existing connections between the United States and Britain, France and Frankfurt. From Europe, FedEx now reaches some 2.8 million companies in the United States before 8.30 am and more than 3.9 million companies in 17,600 postal districts by 10.30 am. Also on the cards is the opening of a FedEx station in Freiburg in southern Germany, near the Swiss border, and an extended service to two other German cities, Ulm and Wuerzburg, in spring 2005. Since September 2004, FedEx